Death Note: K's Inheritance
by sushifan123
Summary: What if it wasn't a bluff? Kira may be dead, but Yagami Light is never without a backup plan. Years after the Kira case is over, at Wammy's House, a new generation of geniuses is fighting for L's name. The battle for both L and Kira's inheritance is on. Who in this new generation can survive long enough to succeed the old? A sequel to the Death Note manga. Feedback is appreciated.
1. Inheritance

**Inheritance**

* * *

November 13th, 2009

Winchester, England

The sky was overcast and rumbling when he threw the last clod of dirt onto the pile.

_It's going to rain soon. _He thought wearily, stomping down the small hill of dirt he made, rendering the contents below invisible to the world._ Of course it's going to rain. It's England._

Looking up at the sky, he spotted the distant silhouette of the mansion called Wammy's House in the sky. The weariness faded from his eyes, replaced with a strange glint, a sardonic smirk creeping across his face.

_L. Who knew that you'd continue to bother me, even after your death?_ Light turned from the view of the mansion, back to his task. _It took me a while to find this place, but perhaps it will prove useful in the future._ His hands moved swiftly, arranging small stones over the bald patch of earth, forming a gothic letter in the earth.

_These successors of yours may not live up to your standard, but I've come too far to take any chances._ His hands smoothed over the finished letter, musing. _You've made your inheritance, but now, it will be mine. Everything that was once yours will be mine. _His hands curl into a claw over his finished piece. Suddenly, taking a penknife from his pocket, Light plunges its tip into the bark of the tree over looking the patch of earth, Tracing out another letter.

_It will work. It has to work. _Light repeated in his head. _If all goes well, I don't need it to work. But I've run over what Ryuk's told me of the rules a thousand times. The wording should allow for this. This is my last resort._

Rising from the ground, Light stood silently for a moment. Turning on his heel, he walks slowly away from the copse of trees lining the edge of the mansions grounds, laughing to himself, a maniacal gleam in his eye.

_Even if I die, even if you have come back from the dead to drag me down with you, L, I will be God._

_I will find your two successors and drag them through the pits of hell because I am Justice._

_I am the God of the New World._

_I am Kira._

_And this is my inheritance._

* * *

January 28th, 2015

Tokyo, Japan

A woman's shriek pierces the room. Her hands gripping clamp-like on man besides her with almost bone breaking force. She pushes one last time before falling back, sweaty and exhausted on the hospital bed. A new shriek pierces the room, a baby's wail. The doctor scoops up the child gently, proclaiming, "It's a boy!" handing the small bundle over to the exhausted mother. The baby falls strangely silent mid-wail at his mothers face, staring. The mother, curious, gently rocks the child, cooing. The child remains unusually calm, his mother's face reflected in his glassy eyes.


	2. Insanity

**Insanity**

* * *

_This world is insane._

Key sighed again as he stared holes into the window of his classroom. A sharp rap on his desk brings his attention back to the front. His eyes meet the exasperated face of the teacher and caretaker of Wammy's House, Anthony Rester.

"Really, Key," He said evenly, "If you're going to be the only one attending the lessons, try and pay attention or you might as well not come. Save both of us more time."

Key glanced around the room. Empty as usual. The residents of Wammy's House were a whimsical, genius bunch. Most other students had better things to do than sit around in lessons far below their intellectual standard.

_Unlike me,_ Key thought bitterly to himself.

"Sorry, Mr. Rester." He said apologetically, fidgeting his glasses awkwardly "I really enjoy your lessons. Do continue."

"No need to say sorry, Key" grinned Rester, "At least you show up. That's more than I can say for the other 50 kids who live here. Class is over for today. The weather is great, why don't you head outside?"

Key smiled sardonically, "I'll be the only one." He rose calmly from his desk, gathered his stuff and walked slowly out of the empty classroom. Rester's gaze follows him as he leaves.

"Grows more like him every day," He mutters to himself. Shaking his head, Rester gathers his papers and follows Key out the room.

Turning a corner quickly, Key walks into the library, pausing to dump the books in his hand into the return box.

Walking to the shelves of L's previous case files, his fingers skim over the folders of varying sizes, labelled by date. It was a common game among the denizens of Wammy's House to solve old case files or create new ones based on the old, playing at being L.

His fingers pause at the section marked for the time between 2003 and 2010. There was only one file during this time span, a binder labelled simply, KIRA.

There was surprisingly little information about the supposed case of the century. A case that stumped 2 previous Ls until the current L, previously a member of Wammy's House named Near, put the case to rest.

Key gently removes the file from the shelf, pulling up a chair from a nearby desk to read it. There is a list of all the recorded deaths under Kira's name, thousands upon thousands of people, including members of the task force who brought him down: Raye Penber, Hirokazu Ukita, The first L, Wammy's House's Matt and Mello, the first Watari and Soichiro and Light Yagami. Key flips through the pages upon pages of victims, both criminal and innocent, verging on the million. And not even counting the untold thousands of criminals killed who were not found or linked to Kira's killings.

Past the list of deaths was the description of the murder weapon. A strange thing called a Death Note, dropped to earth by a Shinigami, a Death God. A list of rules followed the collection of photographs of the death note. Key touched the first one lightly: "The human's whose name is written in this note shall die." A strange alien notebook. The cause of a million deaths and years of terror.

The file goes on to explain equally strange things. A name and a face was all that it took to kill someone. And exchange with a God for magic eyes and half of your lifespan. Key's eyes lingered on the page for another beat before moving on. He had read these rules a thousand times.

Past the record of the deadly notebook was a short collection of news clippings and pictures of strange deaths under Kira's name and then nothing. Key fingered the empty space on the rings at the end of the binder. There should be binders and binders on this case. The current L had all of the other information regarding the Kira case destroyed. Even the information Key had now was one of the last copies and highly classified. L had given it to Wammy's House saying that it was important in case the murder notebook appeared on earth again.

_Why would L destroy information that was already classified and then hand it over the Wammy's house. _Key mused. _I _need_ to find more information on this case. I need to—_

BAM

A hand slammed down on the desk, snapping Key out of his reverie.

"Heh! Startled you didn't I?" A grinning mask of a face floated into view, "Memorizing the Kira file again are we? _Last-Place_."

Key sighed heavily. That nickname again.

"What do you want, J?" Key sighed.

"It's Jack this week, Last-Place, get with the times." Jack grins even wider somehow, "I'm here to challenge you."

Jack stood right next to Key, staring. He was a slight boy, a few years older than Key. He had messy blond hair that was short in the back but with lank bangs that hung over his eyes. The most unsettling things about Jack were his eyes. Big black eyes that constantly stared as if they could see into anything. Jack leaned easily on the desk, his face almost masklike with his usual huge, wicked grin.

"Again, Jack?" Key said with an edge of exasperation, "You challenged me last week. And the week before that. Why does the _second_ ranked person in Wammy's House constantly challenge a last-place student like me?"

"Because it's fun, _K_" Jack said, crawling onto the desk, his baggy black shirt barely hanging onto his shoulders. Flicking his long, pale bangs out of his eyes, he lies down on the desk, looking upside down at Key.

_Why is everyone in this place so abnormal? _

"Aren't you even going to listen to what challenge it is this time?" Jack pouted, "I made it just for you too"

"Alright Jack. What is the challenge this time?"

Jack's face settled back into his grinning mask. Looping both hands around the back of Key's neck, he dragged Key's face close until they were inches apart, staring into each other's eyes. " Since you love the Kira case so much, lets play a name game."

Key flinched a little, coughed awkwardly and sat up, adjusting his glasses on his nose. "I refuse."

"But you haven't even heard the rules of the game!" Jack was back to pouting. "It took me all of 10 minutes to think up!"

Key smiled a bit to himself. Leave it to J to rub his intelligence in his face.

"Shouldn't you be challenging someone worth your time? Beating me is not going to change your rank or anything. What about challenging Isa? Take the first place for yourself."

Isa was the first ranked person at Wammy's House. Everyone at the orphanage was ranked according to yearly tests and personal challenges between students. Scoring well on various tests, solving small cases delegated to the House by L and winning challenges against students who ranked higher raised each student's rank. Top ranked orphans earn a name letter from L and Watari, symbolizing their eligibility for L's name. J enjoyed rubbing his letter in people's faces by changing his alias from day to day.

"Don't mention Isa in front of me, _Last-Place_." The humour in Jack's face is gone, replaces with the mad glint of fury. He sits up, grabbing a fistful of Key's shirtfront, "That air-headed bitch doesn't deserve the first place."

"But you can't beat her, can you?" Key said, unfazed by Jack's seething face, inches from his own, "How many times has it been now?"

Jack hissed, his fist rose. Suddenly the anger drained, as fast as it came. "No matter, I didn't come here to discuss _her._ I want to challenge _you_."

"Why? Why won't you stop annoying a last place like me?"

"Because." Jack's grin was back, "I want to know why a last place like you can earn the letter K. How can the worst student in this House have the closest letter to L?" Jack's face got even closer. "I want to know what it is you've got that's so special."

Key sighed, jerking back from Jack's grip. He pulled the binder out from under Jack and folded it up, walking away. "I still refuse." Key said over his shoulder.

"Why?" yelled Jack at him, giggling to himself, "Think of how much your rank will raise if you win! I'll even stop bothering you! Just one game, come on!"

Key shook his head and walked even faster. Shoving the file violently back into its place in the shelf, he headed out of the library.

_Name game…a close call._ He thought as he hurried down the hall._ I really need to try harder and avoid him. It's a good thing that today's a normal day though. Nothing scheduled. _

He turned into the common room of the mansion. Kids were lying around the room, playing, talking and reading. A large fireplace is burning, reflecting off the floor to ceiling mirror near it. The room is filled with light through the many giant windows that line the room. A large portrait of Quillish Wammy, the founder of the House, occupies the large wall at the end of the room. Key flopped down on a window seat, his hand wiping over his eyes, sighing deeply.

Suddenly, from the entrance way a loud bang. Key bolts upright, staring.

Isaac, a rather average student who was very gifted in photography and art, was standing in the doorway, swaying. He had kicked down the door to the common room and was now shuffling, almost in a trance, to the large wall at the other end of the room. Key and the other children stared after him. Isaac was rather weak and was not usually capable of such strength.

Reaching the wall, Isaac tears off the large portrait of Quillish Wammy. As the other children looked on, stupefied, Isaac takes out a box cutter from his pocket and slashes his hand. Blood pours from his broken skin and splatters, disappearing into the maroon carpet.

Isaac doesn't react to the pain or the blood, but simply raises his palm to the wall and writes in large bold capitals, three words.

Suddenly, he comes to. His eyes widen, his mouth opens, shrieking in pain as he clutches his arm.

Then, a silence, even more horrible than Isaac's scream, washes over the room.

Isaac is clutching his chest and falling, slowly, as if through water. The rest of the children watch, too preoccupied by the message on the wall or shocked from the sight of the blood.

Key snaps out of his stupor first as he rushes forward to catch Isaac in a confused daze.

_No, no, no, no, no…._

"He's not supposed to die. Not today. Not today." Key mumbles to himself, his eyes wide and searching, "He's not supposed to die today."

Other children start to snap out of the initial shock. Screams start as they comprehend the meaning of the three words painted in blood on the wall.

Key grips harder on Isaac, his eyes searching, straining to read the rapidly fading name and numbers above his head.

"Aberthol Spark" he mutters to himself. His head spins as he calculates, converting numbers from a strange unit to an understandable one.

"No." He says again with more conviction and desperation, shaking Isaac's limp body in his arms, "No! You have more than 60 years left! You're not supposed to die today!"

_It's not possible. _Key thinks to himself_ I never see it wrong. It's not possible. _Then, in a moment of clarity, he lifts his eyes from Isaac, no, Aberthol's face to the three words on the wall:

KIRA IS BACK

The last of Aberthol's name and lifespan fade from existence. Key drops his eyes, seeing his own frightened face reflected in the mirror. His eyes widen slightly, his normally brown eyes seemed to flash gold and red for a brief moment, illuminated by the firelight. His name and lifespan reflected above his face had begun to flicker. The numbers began to change, counting down. Decreasing.

"No" he whispers helplessly to Isaac again, "You're not supposed to die today."

* * *

**Hello everyone…..anyone who's reading…..OTL**

**I'm the author to this Death Note fic. Hopefully this chapter was suspenseful enough…**

**The point of this is what I imagine as a potential sequel to the series. I always thought Wammy's House had a cool dynamic and would be a really good hub for the next Kira game. I also wondered what would happen if I increased the number of crazy genius in the plot….and Wammy's has a whole house full of them. **

**Key is what I imagine BB would be like if he was younger….sane….normal?**

**In any case I hope you will read this and enjoy. I will update quite often as I have a lot of time this summer so please Read and Review~!**

**Xoxo**

**Sushifan123**


	3. Letters

**Letters**

* * *

January 28th, 2016

Tokyo, Japan

"HAAAAAAAAPPY BIRTHDAY!" the man yelled as he burst through the door.

A woman giggled from a corner. She was seated elegantly in a chair by the window, holding and cooing at her child.

"There's no need to be loud, Touta-san," she said calmly, still smiling at her baby.

"Indeed," sounded a voice behind the man's elbow, "The child is just one year old. He's hardly going to understand, let alone respond to your raucous yelling."

"Who's this?" the woman asks inquisitively, trying to peer around the man to see the visitor.

"Ah! I brought a special visitor to meet you today!" He said, stepping aside to reveal a slight, pale youth. He stands awkwardly with a slight slouch by the doorway, shifting from foot to foot.

"Ah yes, I've heard all about you." The woman smiles kindly, standing and shaking his hand, "It is an honor and pleasure to meet you."

"I'm apologize for causing so much noise and trouble in your house," the youth said, glancing at the man.

"Oh no, it's alright." She said, grinning, "Touta-san is naturally loud. I suppose we're all used to it by now."

"Aw geez, you guys!" the guys smiles abashedly, rubbing the back of his head, "And plus, that little one is a lot smarter than you think, ya' know! He can talk and call my name and everything!"

"Really?" the youth said in a quiet monotone, "This young one must have inherited great intelligence."

"Thank you," the young mother says, extending the bundle in her arms, "Would you like to hold him?"

The youth awkwardly takes the baby into his arms, struggling under even the small weight of the child. Once settled adequately in his arms, the youth extends his free hand to the baby. A small hand reaches out and grips the youth's finger with surprising strength. Two large brown eyes stare at him with unusual clarity.

"N- N-!" The baby sounds out, reaching for the youth's face.

"He likes you," the mother says gently, smiling.

The youth doesn't respond, staring pensively into the eyes that reflected his face with amazing focus for a baby of one. The flickering light from the birthday candles dance in the baby's eyes, dying the world reflected in them red, then gold, then yellow then brown again. Small, pink lips part as the baby stares into the young man's face, uttering two clear words.

"Nate River."

* * *

September 1st, 2029

Winchester, England

Key sat in his room, rocking.

_This wasn't supposed to happen. There was nothing scheduled for today, for the next couple of weeks. There's nothing wrong with my eyes. This can only mean one thing…_

SCREEEEEECH

A loud echoing screech sounded throughout Wammy's House as the PA system turned on. The tinny voice of Mr. Rester sounded through the loudspeakers.

"Will the 6 Letters please report to my office?"

Key glanced up. L must know. He had to report.

* * *

Walking into the large office, Key saw that the other Letters had already arrived.

"KEEEEEEY!" a large mass of curly brown hair suddenly obscured his vision as a young girl rocketed herself into his arms.

"Isa?" Key said bewildered, "What's wrong?"

"Oh nothing!" Isa was still hugging him, grinning innocently from his arms a stick of Pocky hanging out of her mouth as usual, "I just missed you. You know, today I saw an Eye of Horus that reminded me of you! And then I thought, Key must be really sad. Are you feeling better, by the way?"

Key sighed. There was no hiding from Isa. She was a hyperactive ball of non sequitur statements. Despite being the number 1 in Wammy's House she was small, just a year older than Key. She was also the House's idol, with her friendly nature and pretty looks that hid a scary intellect and almost clairvoyant perception. Her one problem was her strange personality. She was a Kira worshipper, admiring of his power and intellect that matched with her own idealistic worldview. This made her unworthy in many people, like Jack's, eyes. Someone who supported Kira should not be the most eligible to be the next L.

"Hey, hey! Isn't this exciting?" Isa gushed, still not done clinging to Key, "Kira is back! The God of love and justice is back to kill all the criminals!'

"Shut up, Isa." Jack's voice sounded from a corner, "we don't even know if it is Kira. Plus, he's not a god. Just some delusional maniac who says he's justice but then turns around and kills hundreds of innocents."

Jack was leaning against the wall casually. Before Isa came to Wammy's House, Jack was thought to be the next L. With his ferocious intelligence and a vicious competitive streak, J never really forgave Isa and Key for being closer to L than he was.

"Geez, Jack," Isa pouted, chewing on the end of her Pocky stick, "Why do you hate love and justice so much? Of course it's Kira, the M.O. of a sudden heart attack with no prior medical symptoms is in line with the effects from a Death Note! Up to and including Isaac's bizarre and actions before death, clearly a result of the murder notebook's mind control before death!"

"Indeed." A bundle in the corner replied, startling everyone. "My surveillance cameras show no unusual interactions with Isaac in the 24 hours before the death. His med records I ripped from the mainframe indicate perfect health. His eating patterns do not suggest any particular leanings towards foods that may provoke this kind of instant heart attack. So we can only conclude two reasons for his death. Taking into account the writing in blood, there is only one: the murder notebook."

"Hato…" Isa sighed, " when are you going to come out from that blanket of yours, it's not good for you."

"Perhaps not" Hato replies emotionlessly from his corner, "But I prefer it. The room is far too cold and the blanket blocks glare from outside."

Hato scooted over a little bit, moving more into view. He had a tiny frame, but was in fact, the oldest of all the Letters. Hato was the 3rd ranked in Wammy's House and a famous Chinese hacker and hikikomori. He was commonly found lurking in the corners, modifying computers and building robots. Once seen internationally as a criminal, since joining Wammy's House, Hato has put his computer skills to helping L solve Internet crime.

Hato brushed his bangs so that it covered more of his face. "I have a couple bugs scanning the area right now." pressing a few icons on his halo-screen and typing a few lines of code, he says emotionlessly, "There's no sign of the notebook. All the students have alibis at the time of the heart attack."

"Well of course everyone has alibis." Gill says from the side desk, arranging flowers in perfect symmetry in a vase. "The Death Note can control a victim for up to 23 days. Isaac's murderer could have written his name down at any time. No. We're assuming that this is the murder notebook too soon. We can't rule out something completely new either."

"What makes you think that, Gill?" Key asks.

"Oh, hello, Last-Place. The hair on your right shoulder is 2.5 mm shorter than the one on your left. Fix it." Gill said without looking up from her flowers. "I'm just saying we can't rule out other causes of death. The Death Note alone proves that there are many things in this world that are unknown to us. I'm just saying we cannot focus on the Death Note so quickly."

Gill is the 4th ranked in Wammy's House. Stunning looks and a tall model-like figure, blessed with the ability to notice tiny details from even a large distance. She seems blessed in every way, if she wasn't burdened with a bad case of OCD. Some mornings, she can barely get up because her hair cannot sit perfectly symmetrically on her head or if the paintings on the wall in the hallway are tilted 0.5 degrees to the side.

"Don't be mean to Key, Gill! He can't help it. He's pretending to be last place so we don't find out his secret." Isa said, finally done with hugging Key and her Pocky stick.

"Stop raving, you lunatic." Jack grumbled from his spot on the wall. Isa shrugged and popped open a new bag of Pocky. Key sighed with relief. Sometimes Isa was a bit _too_ perceptive.

"It has to be the Death Note…. it has to be." A grating voice sounded from the corner. "Occam's razor. The simplest solution is the correct one. Kira's back and he's going to kill us all!"

"What am I saying?" Jack sighed, exasperated, "The real raving lunatic is you, Fred. No one needs your paranoid delusions here."

"He's coming for us. I know it." Fred chewed uneasily on his fingernail, almost drawing blood. "We're first to go because we're L's successors. Kira can't have L's successors living on this planet."

Fred was the 5th ranked Wammy's House resident and the last of the Letters. Redheaded, thick glasses and tons of freckles, Fred managed to scrape the 5th spot with his almost encyclopedic knowledge from his constant reading and his photographic memory. Despite this however, Fred lives in the constant fear of something or someone coming to get him, his rank and his letter.

"Even if it is Kira. How are we supposed to find him?" Key spoke up, "He kills anonymously over large distance and had almost complete control of the circumstances of death. It's the perfect murder."

Everyone else looked at him for a beat and then burst into laughter.

"Who do you think we are, Last-Place?" Jack said, collapsing in a fit of laughter

"Yeah, Key! There are many indications surrounding the circumstances of this death that can implicate the murderer." Giggled Isa next to him, crunching on her Pocky sticks.

"It's all in the details," Gill said, smiling into her flowers, "This is this version of Kira's first known murder. There are bound to be mistakes."

"In this day and age, no one escapes my surveillance," said Hato, who was still emotionless but had produced a hologram that was now pointing and laughing, "The technology is everywhere."

"Kira may be coming for us, but that doesn't mean we're not prepared," said Fred, as he continued to bite his nails, now with a slightly amused expression on his face.

"I suppose to a Last-Place like you, Kira may be untouchable, but _I'm_ the genius of the genius here. And L is even greater. We'll find this loser in no time." Jack said, still grinning.

Key's face reddened. Of course they could figure it out, _they_ were the true Letters of Wammy's House. He was nothing compared to these five. He felt foolish for even trying to suggest something.

_But then why did L give _me_ a letter? _Key placed a hand over his eyes. _I know why. My letter is K. K for Kira. Because if anyone was going to be Kira, it would be me. He gave me a letter so he could watch me. So he could make sure that I would never hurt anyone with these eyes. These guys deserve their letter, but I have mine because L doesn't trust me._

Key felt tears welling up at the corners of his eyes. He blinked them away. This was no time to be upset over things he can't change.

"Alright now. Settle down kids." Rester said from the door. The room fell perfectly silent. "No doubt you guys already know why you're here. L would like to talk to you about today's events."

A shiver of excitement of ran through the room. It was rare for anyone at Wammy's House to talk directly to L.

Rester turned on his computer, sitting on his desk, turning around the monitor so the rest of the room can see. A gothic letter L appears on the screen as it crackles to life. A tinny distorted voice sounds harshly from the speakers.

"Hello, everyone."

* * *

**Ahhhhh Near…. you can either hate him or love him…**

**Yaaaaaay we have some more main characters up in here~~~**

**Haaaah They all represent some of my wishful Death Note thinkings...**

**Like Isa and Gill...they're what I imagine Misa and Naomi Misora are like, had Obata Syndrome, their dependency etc etc had not gotten in the way of Misa's Genius Ditz Awesome or Naomi's Badass FBI Awesomeness by Analysis personalities...**

**Also...they all seem to have cool names that aren't really names...J(insertnamehere), Key, Isa, Gill, Hato...and then there's Fred...cuz why not?**

**Welp…here's another chapter you guys. Special thanks to Markrod10…my one reviewer :D at least now I know someone is reading this…..OTL**

**Xoxo**

**Sushifan123**


	4. L

**L**

* * *

January 28th, 2016

Tokyo, Japan

A woman is collapsed on the floor, sobbing.

"You can't do this to her, Near!" Matsuda yelled, pointing his gun at Near who was standing by the door, holding the baby.

"I have to, Matsuda-san." Near replied matter-of-factly, "I cannot risk this child becoming like Kira or BB. Especially since he knows my real name and face now."

"She's already lost her entire family!" Matsuda yelled, his hands shaking, "You can't just take her child too!"

Near turned his back on the two of them, "I have no other choice. _Especially_ considering whom he's related to."

Tears pricked at the corner of Matsuda's eyes as he slowly lowered his gun. "I know. It's just...So unfair…"

"This is for the best," Near said, his face unreadable, "At least at Wammy's House, he can live in secret. He won't be discovered. He won't be used."

"Won't be used?" Matsuda spat through his teeth, "_You're_ going to use him. You should know what Wammy's is like. This is a baby. And for all we know, a _normal_ baby. He doesn't deserve this."

"Normal?" a sardonic smile on Near's face, "He has Shinigami Eyes. He's far from normal."

"It's not right." Matsuda muttered to him, helpless, "It's not fair."

"Of course it's not right or fair." Near said, "This world is insane. Nothing is fair."

"But, Near…"Matsuda said, looking up, "When this child grows up, he might hate you…for taking away his family for something he couldn't control…for using him…"

"That's not something you should be worried about." Near said quietly, "He'll only be one of the many in the world who loathe a cheater like me."

"You don't have to do this to yourself, Near." Matsuda said sadly, "You don't have to take everyone's burdens onto yourself."

"I'm just another cheating criminal, Matsuda." Near said coldly, "I don't need any help. There's no saving me."

"Near…" Matsuda sighed, shook his head and returned to the woman's side to comfort her.

Near walked a couple of steps and paused, staring at the baby. "If he was here, in my place, what would he do with you? Would he use you like I will?"

The baby stared back, still calm, cooing Near's name under his breath.

"To think that you, of all people would be born with the Eyes."

Taking a deep breath, Near stepped out into the winter air. The baby shivered a bit and borrowed into Near's chest for warmth. Near looked down at the innocent, unknowing bundle and seemed to make a decision.

"From now on, your name will be K."

* * *

September 1st, 2029

Winchester, England

"Hello, everyone." L's voice sounded through the speakers. "I have already been briefed by Watari and Rester. But, I'd rather hear what you guys have to say since it involves your home."

"Most of us weren't present, only Key was at the actual scene when it happened and Hato saw it through his monitors." Isa spoke up first. "It's definitely the murder notebook. The heart attack and the message corroborate this."  
"Considering the M.O. of the crime," Jack also spoke up, eager to impress, "This isn't the old Kira. Isaac was not a criminal. His death was a threat to the other successors at Wammy's House. There's no visible attempt to sway the public to his favour like the old Kira. This one is out to target Wammy's and you, L."

"Probably because he recognizes L and his successors as his greatest threat." Fred says nervously, "The last Kira underestimated us and was brought down because of it. This one is careful."

"So, in conclusion," Isa said cheerfully, "The culprit is showy, careful and probably in this room."

Everyone jumped and stared at Isa.

"What makes you think that I?" asked L, completely unaffected by her statement.

"Well, its what we're all thinking, right?" Isa said, still cheerful, munching on a new Pocky pack. "Everyone's name at Wammy's House is a secret, meaning that whoever wrote Isaac's true name down either exchanged for Shinigami eyes or knew Isaac very, very well."

"And Shinigami eyes are not a possibility because then the murderer would not have targeted Isaac, they would have gone for someone closer to L in order to make his statement," said Jack darkly from a corner, "He would have done in Mr. Rester or one of us if he had the eyes."

"Exactly~!" Isa winked at Jack who promptly glared at her and scowled in disgust, "That proves that the murderer is here at Wammy's since Isaac grew up here from a very young age."

"But then, why do you suspect someone in this room, Isa?" Key asked, confused

"You're adorable, Key," She said looking over to him, "It's one of us because the murderer had to be very intelligent. There are no traces of any experimentation with the notebook. Isaac's death was a first and flawless. Even the original Kira experimented with tons of prisoners before he got fancy with killing the FBI agents and the task force."

"Very intelligent," said Jack, "Also, he has a high respect for L, or else he wouldn't make such a declaration in Wammy's House. He's recognizing L and Wammy's as his greatest obstacle."

"The murderer would have to be good with technology," Hato muttered, "To not be caught by any camera or recording device in the House while he used the notebook."

"Detailed. The murderer was detailed," said Gill by her flowers, "Isaac's death was perfectly timed and staged for maximum impact. The amount of detail required writing that death down in the note must have been very great."

"He is also highly paranoid," said Fred, chewing on his fingers, "He took out Isaac, the great photographer. If Isaac is dead, his photos can disappear without much notice. Then, if anyone else with a Death Note pops up, Shinigami Eyes can't be used against him. No paper trail. "

"And finally the culprit is a Kira fan or is pretending to be one." Isa wrapped up happily, "Or else they wouldn't have declared themselves under his name."

_Intelligent, respectful of L, good with technology, detailed, paranoid and a L-supporter…_Key repeated,_ They just described all the Letters except for me. Ironic._ He passed a hand over his eyes, _If anything, I would be the most likely suspect. I do know everyone's real name after all…_

"I see," the distorted voice sounded over the speaker after a pause, "I think I've heard enough. Thank you everyone. Now, I would like to talk to K alone."

"Why _him_?" Jack said, a shade jealous, "What can _he _tell you?"

"L wants to Key to relate to him an eyewitness account, obviously," said Gill coolly, "in a case such as this, detail is everything." She twitched a flower a millimetre to the right, "J, your shirt is 1.3 cm lower on your right shoulder than your left. I can barely stand to look at you."

"Then don't look." Jack's smile was gone. He pulled his right sleeve down even further and stalked out of the room. Everyone followed Jack out of the room as Mr. Rester closed the door behind them.

Key stood at the centre of the room awkwardly, looking around as the room fell perfectly silent. He opened his mouth

"L…I…."

"You're not Kira are you?" a voice asked coldly from the speakers, the tinny computer distortion gone. "It would be unfortunate if you were."

"No! I just—" Key took a step back, "I would never, I—"

"Hmm," said the voice, "well I suppose if you were Kira I'd be long dead by now, along with the rest of the Letters."

Key started to say something and then fell silent.

"Did you see anything with your eyes?" asked the voice, businesslike, "A person without a lifespan perhaps? Or a Shinigami?"

"No." Key said simply, "I don't think I saw anyone without a lifespan, but that doesn't mean they don't have a Death Note. I was born with Shinigami eyes, I may just see a lifespan for everyone, Death Note or no. I don't even know if I can see a real Shinigami…"

"Nonsense," said the voice, "You saw both Rem and Ryuk in the pictures we had without owning the Note that they followed. Even the second Kira with Shinigami eyes couldn't do that."

"There is no Shinigami following anyone that I've seen yet," said Key, "If the murderer is as smart as we think he is, he probably asked the Shinigami to hid in case someone accidentally touched the Note and saw the Shinigami."

"Of course. I suppose it is a bit soon for Kira to slip up here."

"There is something, however…"Key said hesitantly, "I saw a lot of lifespans decreasing. Who ever has the Death Note is clearly affecting the lives of all of the residents at Wammy's. I know it's not just through the Death Note either. I can't see Deaths that are caused by the Death Note. It cuts off a person's life regardless of their remaining lifespan."

"So you can see the ripple effect of the Death Note on other people's lifespan. Interesting. Exchanged Shinigami eyes cannot do that, but actual Shinigamis can."

"Yes," Key said, looking down. _I still don't know a lot about these eyes…_

"Could you look at my lifespan for me?" asked the voice, still emotionless.

"But, L, I—" Key looked up, startled.

"Yes, I don't usually show my face, but there's really no point of hiding, especially since you know my name and face already," said the voice, a bit bored, "I want to know if my lifespan changed since last time. I had another 5 years, right? Especially since you foresaw the shooter last month."

"Yes," Key said quietly. Being L came with a ton of danger. No L in the past ever lived as long as the current one. With Key's ability to look at people's lifespan, he was also able to prevent a handful of the fated deaths from coming true, if another human caused the death. With this ability, Key had managed to extend the current L's life by a few precious years at a time.

The gothic L on the screen was fading away, replaced by the image of a white-haired man. Key's eyes focused on the man's face, still youthful despite being well into his thirties. His hair fell in thick messy curls around his face. His wide, dark, bulging eyes were lined with tiredness, dark bags colouring the skin under each eye. He lounged on the floor in pyjamas, almost as white as his hair. In one hand, he fiddled with a handful of dice, in the other, a large bar of chocolate. He stared into the camera and took a large bite out of the chocolate bar.

Key took a deep breath and moved his eyes to the top of the screen, above the man's head.

Nate River

The two words floated, letters bumping into each other over his head. Under it, a set of numbers that changed every 4.44 minutes. Key's pupils shrunk infinitesimally as he took in the numbers over L's head. His lips moved as they calculated, converting the numbers from Shinigami time to human time.

He stopped when he reached the answer. Unable to comprehend, he stared, eyes wide. Knees giving out, he sank slowly to the carpet, his head shaking.

"No, no, no…" he whispered, "This can't be happening."

"How long do I have left?" the man asked, his face still calm and impassive from the screen. "Judging for your reaction, it's not too good."

"If my calculations are correct," Key said quietly to the carpet, "You have a little less than a week left."  
"Such a drastic change." The man said coolly from the screen, biting down on his chocolate, "The effect of a Death Note on this world is not to be underestimated. You may return to your room now."

"You'll catch him, right?" Key asked, looking up at Nate River from his kneeling position on the floor, "You caught the last Kira, you can catch him, right? Before you run out of time."

Nate paused and looked at Key carefully. He smiled softly, his face childish, "In this world, whoever wins is Justice. And, the good guys always win."

* * *

Key returned to his room, flopping down on his bed a sighing. He put his hand over his eyes, tired.

"My goodness," said a deep voice right next to him, "I was beginning to think that no one occupied this room."

Key gasped, opening his eyes, almost sitting up. He stared, wide eyed, too scared to even scream, straight into the twisted, grinning face of a huge figure floating right above him.

"So you _can_ hear and see me," said the grinning face, "Good. This is about to get a lot more interesting."

* * *

**AAAAAAND IT'S NEAR~ NEEEAAARRR**

**I miss Mello...I wish I could write him in but he dead...I guess I'll use J(insertnamehere) as his replacement to soothe my heart...Ah Mello, you went too soon...too soon... (/TAT)/**

**Goodness, he's getting more like L the older he gets. I'm still having a very had time believing he's not some secret love child of L and Light's. I mean, LOOK at him. He's pretty much an albino L or a curly haired Light….**

**In any case…whoooo new chapter~ gotta love the six-way Letter banter. I also love writing for Near!L. So honest…so implacable….goodness.**

**And three guesses to who our grinning friend is at the end of the chapter. It's not who you think :D**

**Read and Review, people …TAT….please….OTL**

**Xoxo**

**Sushifan123**


	5. Shinigami

**Shinigami**

* * *

July 12th, 2020

Location Unknown

A young Key sat in a metal chair in the middle of a grey room, surrounded by TV screens. Near was sitting on the floor in front of him, back to the screens, staring at Key.

"I-I don't understand," Key said hesitantly, "They don't make any sense."

"Calm down and look," Near said in a deadpan, playing with a robot toy, "There's always a pattern to these things."

Key took a deep breath and focused his eyes on the air over Near's head. The numbers flashed, bumping into each other. Key steadied his thumb on the stopwatch in his hand, his pupils dilated with concentration. As soon as the number changed, he pressed the button on the stopwatch, staring hard at the numbers, waiting for them to change again. Minutes went by in silence. The numbers jumped again as Key tightened his grip on the button.

"What are the numbers now?" asked Near, not even looking up.

"The time interval is about 4 minutes and a half minutes," said Key, his eyes still staring intensely at the numbers, his small frame shaking with the strain of the focus, "The first number increased by 3, the second decreased by 9, the third by 4, the fourth increased by 19 and the last number decreased by 1."

"Now, how does that correlate with the other trials?" asked Near, twisting a leg of the robot and lifting it over his head.

"Averaging the other trials, the numbers change consistently every 4.44 minutes," said the young boy, concentrating hard as he dug his memory for the results of hundreds of trials, "The numbers change almost randomly, but there is an emerging pattern."

"Do you think you can accurately calculate the remaining lifespan of a person now?" asked Near, taking a bite of chocolate.

"I think so," said Key, "It may take some more practice and I may be a bit slow but I think I have the pattern."

"Good." said Near. "Now take a look at these criminal line-ups. I need you to identify a few people who may have changed their faces to hide their identity."

"Yes, Nate" said Key quietly, taking the large file from the table besides Near, his body shaking from exhaustion. He had been training with Near for hours now.

"It's Near," corrected Near harshly, "You have to get used to addressing people by the names they give you, not their actual name. You are to call me Near or L at all times."

"Yes Near," said Key quietly, sitting back down on the backless metal chair with a large stack of pictures. As he circled the face that matched the name, his vision faded in and out of blurriness as he was on the verge of passing out.

Suddenly, the door slammed open.

"That's enough Near," said Matsuda from the open doorway, "Key, you can return to your room for now, please get some sleep."

Key looked up from his files gratefully and headed out the door. Matsuda closed the door behind him. Key paused as the door clicked shut, sliding down to sit next to the door as he listened to Matsuda's angry voice and Near's calm one on the other side.

"You can't keep doing this to him Near! He's too young to take this kind of mental strain."

"If he's going to be born with these eyes, he has to be able to use them. This is the only way to keep him from going insane."

"He's _five_ Near. You've been in this room with him for close to 24 hours. It may be necessary to train him, but you're this close to killing the poor boy!"

"He can do it. He has to do it. If he doesn't make sense of what the eyes are showing him, he can end up like Beyond Birthday. At least now we know how to handle something like this. Besides, he provides valuable information on how Shinigamis and their eyes work."

"You're _experimenting_ on him? I can't believe this! Bad enough he has to stay away from his mother, but this? Don't tell me you're doing this because of who his family is!"

"That has nothing to do with anything. The child can take it. He is brilliant in his own right. Almost as much as his uncle. He was able to memorize hundreds of numbers, names and faces from our tests."

"Near…I can't just watch you do this to yourself and the kid…"

The voices faded as Key stopped focusing on listening. He was too excited to listen. He felt his weariness fade as he blushed with pleasure. Near had called him brilliant. Suddenly it didn't matter to him that he stayed up the whole day or that Near was just using him for his eyes.

_He said that I was brilliant. That I'm special. I can help L with something that no one else can._

* * *

September 1st, 2029

Winchester, England

Key's mouth fell open as he stared into the wide eyes of a twisted and alien face. He began to shiver with fear, unable to move a muscle as the hovering face drew closer.

"Huh." It said, its mouth not really moving, mask-like, "You're not really talkative for a human, are you?" it paused, "Oh wait I get it. It's the face right? Geez, I don't get how the rest of the guys can stand to look like this all the time, it's so tiresome."

Key's mouth opened and closed soundlessly as he lay motionlessly on his bed, still in shock. The face seemed to retreat as the figure floated to the other end of the bed sitting down next to him

"Ahh, I'm finally here," the figure said happily, completely unaffected by Key's motionless and soundless state, "It's been years since I've been down here. Got any apples or cherries? I hear they were particularly good down here."

Key bolted up like a wooden board as he sat up and turned to face the alien figure in his room "Y-you! You're a Sh-Shini-"

"A Shinigami?" the figure finished for him, turning to face him, "Yeah I guess. Sort of. You could say that. Man, now that the shock's worn off, this appearance is tiresome. Do you mind if I change?"

Key shook his head automatically.

"Good." The face grinned even wider as it reached two hands to its neckline and tugged at something invisible. The wide grinning face and the grotesque body shape faded and was replaced by something that was both more human and more otherworldly. A good-looking human face, framed by a dark, curly bob. A tall man stood where the monster had been before, thin and strong. He wore leather pants and a dark red cape. But that was where his human features ended. His skin was a sewn together patchwork of different colored flesh, ranging from light greyish white to dark brown. Thin bony wings sprouted from his shoulder blades were folded neatly down his back. He stared at Key with amusement written all over his face. Sighing loudly, he sat back down on the bed next to Key, stretching his arms over his head.

"Ahh~ This form is _much_ more comfortable," said the man, "So, where are your manners? Introduce yourself!"

"Um...Key." said Key hesitantly, "Why are you in my room?"

"Hmm, that's not your real…" the man glanced up over Key's head, "Oh…well then. I'm glad I found you!"

"Are you the Shinigami of the new Kira's notebook?" asked Key, recovering from the shock, "Why are you in my room?"

"No, I'm not," said the figure, examining a corner of Key's room, " I usually don't like to get involved with the Human World...but alas for the fates have conspired against me…"

"Who are you?" asked Key, his eyes examining the space where a name and lifespan should be. "You don't have a name or a lifespan…like a"

"Ah, let's not worry about the small details" the man said breezily, "Call me Rem!"

"Rem is dead," said Key in a deadpan, "Also Rem's a female and looks nothing like you."

"Such a shame right?" said the man, unsurprised, "So you knew her. Interesting. I was sure that name would work since she died before your were born…"

"I saw her in a picture," said Key

"Ah yes, the Eyes. Right," the man said, musing over something, "Then call me…Grimm"

"Grimm?"

"Yeah, sounds cool right?"

"What are you doing in my room, Grimm." Key asked for the 3rd time in a row, "What is a Shinigami doing here if he wasn't haunting a dropped Death Note?"

"So concerned about privacy, huh?" smiled the man, now looking at another corner in the room, "Interesting. Well, I'm here to ask for a favor."

"What could I do for a Shinigami?" asked Key.

Grimm was suddenly serious. Turning around, he walked back to where Key was sitting and stared down at him.

"Someone is trying to bend to rules governing the Death Note to his favor," said Grimm with a touch of anger, "The Death Note doesn't react well to its rules being bent, but this guys is too clever. He found and manipulated the loopholes to his advantage."

"Are you talking about Kira, Grimm?" asked Key, not understanding.

"I can no longer abide the rules being bent to this degree," said Grimm, ignoring Key's question, "If this goes on, this world and others will be in danger. The rules were created for the Death Note in order to minimize its affect on this dimension. It doesn't really abide being tampered with. Damn, that Ryuk. He really messed everything up when he dropped his notebook on this dimension out of boredom."

"What are you talking about? I don't—"

"Look," said Grimm seriously, "You don't have to understand. Just know that the Death Note isn't something that belongs here. I need you to find it and bring it to me. Before it causes more damage to this dimension. Look what it did to the Shinigami World."

"But you're a Shinigami, aren't you?" asked Key, "Can't you just find it and get it back yourself."

Grimm sighed heavily, "My reach is limited. Once the Death Note is dropped to the Human World, it becomes the property of the Human World. To get it back either a human needs to take it and return it, or the Shinigami who is tied to the Note has to kill the human owner. And _he's_ not going to kill the owner…so I have you"

"But why me?" asked Key, "Surely you can go to L or someone more qualified to find Kira."

"Because I need your eyes," said Grimm, "You were born with Shinigami eyes, meaning that they are inherently different than the ones humans get from making the eye deal or even the eyes that we Shinigami have. Let's just say you're eyes can see more. They're closer to the mainframe. _You_ can see the small changes in lifespan caused by the butterfly effect of the Death Note. Your eyes can estimate their lifespans more accurately than ours because you are human. Of course, no estimate is perfect. The Death Note can still cut a person's life short regardless of lifespan and fate has a way of escaping even the most accurate predictions."

"Then, why should I help you?" asked Key, standing up and staring at Grimm, "Why should I put my life on the line to help a Shinigami? Because I can see this butterfly effect, I can't even tell who Kira is with these eyes!"

_In the end, I really am useless. I can't give L what he really needs when he wants my help._

"Hmm." Grimm seemed to be considering something. Grabbing Key's face, he examined his eyes closely before answering, "There is something I can give you. Answers. Chances are, you were born with these eyes with no knowledge of how they really work or the rules governing the Death Note and eyes right? You had to figure it out yourself. If you help me, I will tell you everything you've wanted to know about your eyes, how they work and maybe even why you have them. I will give you answers to all your unanswered questions because that is what you truly desire."

Key's pupils shrunk a bit as his insides were in turmoil. Overwhelming joy and fear filled him. _Finally. I've found what I had been looking for. Answers_.

"Fine. I will help you," said Key firmly, "It seems like you're the only one that can tell me what I need to know, so I'll help you."

"Good." Grimm grinned widely as he pulled back, "I look forward to a wonderful partnership."

He waved his hand and a white notebook appeared out of thin air. Grabbing the notebook before it fell out of the air, he used his nail to draw a gothic letter on the cover. A curling, calligraphic K. He handed the book to Key, smiling.

"For your protection." Grimm said, "Try not to use it if you can help it. But when going up against another Death Note…"

"White?" asked Key, running a finger over the black letter burned into the cover.

"Yep!" said Grimm happily, "Looks more heroic don't you think? Relax, man! You'll do fine. And if it all goes to plan, we won't even need to use it."

Key stared quietly at the book of death in his hands. So small and yet, so powerful and deadly. L had once told him that the Death Note was the most terrible murder weapon in the world. And now he owned one.

"Huh," said a high-pitched voice from the doorway, "I guess I was wrong. Strange."

Key looked up, startled and terrified. Isa was leaning casually on the open door of his room, chewing thoughtfully on her Pocky.

"Oh this is just great," muttered Grim under his breath.

"According to my deductions, out of all the Letters, you had the lowest chance of being Kira-sama, 5%," said Isa calmly, "I guess even I can be wrong sometimes."

* * *

**OOOOOH SNAPPPPPP~~~~ OK PEOPLE, STORY OVER, MOVE ALONG NOW! Lol jk…**

**Man I love cliffies~**

**So no, you guess wrong. Its not Ryuk or Light, BUT A TOTALLY NEW SHINIGAMIII~~~ (I'm such a cheater….)**

**Grimm looks like Ryuk's original smexy rockstar concept design. I mean look it up... Unf look at dat sexeh beast…:Q**

**I mean, if Ryuk looked like that all the time…Light/Ryuk would NOT be as slashy as it is. It would be CANOOOONN.**

**Till next time, Read and Review plox ^_^**

**Xoxo**

**Sushifan123**


	6. Depth

**Depth**

* * *

October 19th, 2026

Location Unknown

Key sat in a small, plain room at a desk with one bright lamp. A pile of case files sat besides him: missing people, murders, and kidnappings. Key rubbed his eyes wearily as he wrote down the name of the person's face circled in red in the case file.

The door opened, spilling light into the room. The man known as the current Watari, or as people close to L know him, Gevanni enters the room, followed by Near.

"Still working, Key?" asked Gevanni amicably.

"Yes, Watari," said Key, opening a new case file, "Unfortunately, the amount of people who need to be identified by my eyes has increased, what with easy and cheap facial modification these days…"

"We appreciate your help on these cases," Gevanni smiled at Key.

"So you were ranked last place again?" Near asked, sitting down on the floor with a pile of finger puppets, "You could have taken a higher rank, why?"

"I rejected all of the personal challenges," said Key, looking down and colouring in shame, "I was afraid I might slip up and reveal something about my eyes. I didn't realize I had so many challenges that I would be ranked last."

"Hmm," said Near absently as he placed various finger puppets on all of his fingers and wiggled them.

"L," said Gevanni, "he gets challenged a lot because he has a letter. You told him to stay under the radar by maintaining a low rank, but his letter makes him a target."

"Keep rejecting the challenges, K," said Near, ignoring Gevanni, "I know it is tempting to take the top rank, but your eyes cause unnecessary trouble."

Key looked away, his eyes hidden and unreadable.

"Yes, L."

* * *

September 1st, 2029

Winchester, England

"I guess I'm wrong sometimes," said Isa coolly, leaning against the door, "I knew you were good, but I never thought you'd be this good."

"Wait!" Key said, horrified, " I can explain this, I...Wait how did you even get in? I thought I locked the door."

"I picked the lock, of course," said Isa happily, holding up a bent paperclip and closing the door behind her, "I wanted to see you, and your door was locked. You never usually lock your door, you know. First I thought, Ah~ My Key is becoming a teenager. But no, this is _much _more interesting. Were you talking to your Shinigami? Can I meet him?"

Isa quickly skipped over to Key and grabbed the Death Note out of his stunned hands. Turning to face Grimm without much surprise, she seemed a bit taken aback by his appearance.

"_Hello_ Mr. Shinigami!" she said cheerfully, "You are much better looking than I expected."

"Hello, ah, you go by Isa, do you?" Grimm said gallantly, bowing a bit, "I'm Grimm. It's a pleasure."

"Huh," said Isa, "So this is what a Shinigami is like. What are you doing here?"

"Well, I'm not your typical Shinigami," said Grimm, "I'm actually here to, believe it or not, find Kira."

"I see," said Isa, "So according to you there's another Shinigami loose?"

"Not according," said Grimm, "There is another Shinigami loose."

"Shouldn't you be able to find this Shinigami on your own? Why give a Note to a human? Why not just fine him out yourself? What are you? The Shinigami Police?"

"Hehehe," Grim laughed, "Something like that. Once the Note touches the Human World, it's the human's property. I can't get it back without killing the owner, and only the Shinigami haunting the owner can do that. So, I got a human to do it for me."

"Interesting," said Isa, "So I _was_ right, Key's not Kira. Someone else is."

"Wait, wait, WAIT," said Key, snapping out of his shocked state, "How are you two so calm?"  
"What Key?" said Isa, "I'm getting acquainted with this nice Shinigami!"

Key sighed heavily; he still couldn't get over the weirdness at Wammy's.

"I'm really not Kira, you know" said Key warily, "You weren't wrong."

"I know," said Isa, "I suppose I'm not usually wrong about these things. Also, Shinigami don't seem obligated to help their owners. If this Shinigami is vouching for you, I have not much reason to doubt. Besides, it doesn't particularly matter if you're Kira or not. If my lovely Key is Kira, all the better."

"You are a very interesting human," observed Grimm, grinning at Key, "at least we don't have to worry about her ratting you out."

"What if you're Kira, Isa?" Key was still wary, "You're a Kira supporter and you're the smartest one at Wammy's. You're a very likely suspect."

"Key~ I'm hurt," said Isa, pouting, "Well you do have a point. What's preventing me from being Kira?"

Key looked at Isa, hard. Then, seeing something, he smiled a bit.

"No, you can't be Kira," said Key, "Isaac's death is not your type of crime. If you were Kira, we would find criminals dying in huge amounts. You wouldn't announce your presence to the world, no. Letting L and the Letters onto your tail at Wammy's the last think you'd want. You support Kira only because you respect the strength of his belief in Justice. If you were Kira, you'd keep killing in the shadows and far away from innocents like Isaac. Even if this lovey dovey justice personality of yours is a fake, the public murder of an innocent like Isaac as Kira's first kill only serves to illegitimize your Justice campaign and your image."

_Besides,_ Key thought to himself_, your lifespan is significantly lower since the last time I saw you. Isaac's death was part a declaration, but most likely it was an act of self-defence. No one should know his name was Aberthol except for himself and me. Isaac was connected to the current Kira and was killed for it, meaning that Kira should currently be walking around with a longer lifespan than usual._

Grimm whistled slowly. Isa grinned and started to bounce in place.

"So you are better than I thought," said Isa happily, "you must be obfuscating stupidity to cover for some large secret of yours. I love it!"

Key chuckled nervously, adjusting his glasses. He wasn't used to saying his deductions aloud like this.

"Now that we've gotten past the suspicion stage of all this," cheered Isa, popping open some more Pocky she fished out of her pocket, "When do I get a Death Note?"

Key and Grimm turned to stare at Isa blankly at the exact same time.

"Well, If you're going after this Kira, I want in." she said, chewing on a stick, "And, if Mr. Shinigami is telling the truth, he needs as much help as he can get. I'm smart so I can help a lot. I want in."

"B-but Isa…" Key stuttered out, "I thought you were a Kira supporter…"

"It's just as you said, Key," said Isa, leaning against his wardrobe, "I can't be this Kira because if it was me, hundreds of criminals would be dead already. But this Kira is different. He killed an innocent straight out, Key. Kira's making it obvious that he doesn't want justice he wants blood. I can't support someone like that. I may have respected the original Kira because of where his morals are grounded in. But even the original strayed from the path of true justice when he started to kill innocent people. And that's where the slippery slope starts. Once you start killing people who've done no wrong besides stand against you, where does it stop? I supported Kira because he's was the only one who actually _did_ something to try to change this rotten world we're in, even if it wasn't the right thing to do, at least someone took action and stood by their beliefs. This Kira isn't even pretending to have some moral upper ground. I want in because I want to _do_ something."

Key was a bit taken aback by her long-winded speech. He'd never heard Isa give such a long explanation for her thoughts. Most of the time she'd just pop out with her conclusion, leaving everyone in the dust.

"Ok" said Grimm suddenly, "You're in. besides, having her around will make this a whole lot more interesting, right Key?"

"But Grimm…" Key said, still hesitating, "Isa, if you join in this…what ever it is, your life will be in grave danger. I can't let you take that kind of risk, it's your _life _we're talking about here."

"Key," said Isa gently, placing a hand on his shoulder, "I'm the first ranked student at Wammy's and the closest to being L's successor. Regardless of what I do, I will be a big target for Kira, especially if he's here at Wammy's. At least if I join up with you, I will have my own Death Note. I will be able to protect myself."

Key looked, searching Isa's eyes. She smiled back, full of confidence and happiness.  
"Relax, Key!" she said, patting him on the back, " We'll be fine! With you, Mr. Shinigami and me as a team we'll find this fake-Kira in no time!"

"Just promise me one thing" said Key, resigned, "Don't use the Death Note to kill criminal or anything. Only use it for self-defense."

"Geez, you're no fun at all, Key," said Isa, "Not even one tyrannical dictator?"

"No."

"He really isn't any fun," agreed Grimm as he walked to stand in front of Isa, "so, another Death Note? I really shouldn't be dispensing these around like some vending machine…but…"

"Hey, Hey~" said Isa, cheerful again, " Since Key got a white one, can I get my own colour? Like pink?"

"Sorry kid," said Grimm, "Death Notes come in black, red and white only."

"Then I want a white one~" said Isa happily, "I wanna match with Key!"

Grimm waved again and handed Isa her own white Death Note, this time with a calligraphic I emblazoned on the cover.

"Cool, thanks!" said Isa, "But so anti-climactic, no ceremony, no cool wind blowing through my hair, no surge of power…I don't even feel that different since I can see you already, Mr. Shinigami…"

"Can we focus on finding Kira so we can get rid of these as soon as possible?" asked Key uncomfortably, walking over to lock the door again, bolting it in case someone else wanted to try their hand at lock picking.

"So our mission is to find Kira," Isa said to herself, "How exciting! This is like a challenge, except its from a Shinigami and the stakes are real, not jut a game. How wonderful~"

Grimm sat down on the bed, grinning, "Any ideas? Under the rules I'm supposed to be completely impartial, meaning that I can't tell you any of the names and lifespans I see. But even then it won't be much help because I can see lifespans for everyone, even Death Note owners."

"Shinigami are useless," Isa said happily, "So we're looking for someone who is connected with Isaac, and not just on the normal level. It takes a lot to get a true name out of someone at Wammy's."

"Kira must have murdered Isaac with a reason," said Key, thinking hard. "Isaac must have known about the notebook and Kira."

"I've got it!" said Isa, suddenly, bouncing over to Grimm, "You say your eyes can see the lifespans of all humans, even Death Note owners, but human's can't. If a human made the eye deal with a Shinigami, Death Note owners would appear to them as just a name with no lifespan. So, make the eye deal with me!"

"No!" Key yelled, standing between Isa and Grimm, "You can't. You can't just throw away half your remaining lifespan for that small thing! I only let you join to protect you, you can just go shortening your lifespan recklessly like that!"

_I can't let her make the eye deal. Not only is it unnecessary, but also she doesn't even have that long left, if she makes the deal, she'll die very quickly. This is all because my eyes failed to see Kira. It's my fault and I can't let her get harmed from this. _

"Key, you and I both know that this is the fastest way to solve this." said Isa calmly, "besides, taking out Kira will lengthen my life, so don't worry about it!"

"No, Isa" said Key, shaking," It doesn't work like that." The eye deal will cut your life in half at what it currently is and no one can escape it. And as soon as we catch Kira, you'll be left with half your life and nothing else to show for it."

"That's not true, Key" said Isa, "You know how useful they'll be in the future? I could help identify criminals for L. The ability to see who people are by just their face is formidable enough, not to mention when it's paired with a Death Note!"

"It's not that great Isa," insisted Key, "It's not worth half your life!"

"Why are you so against this Key?" asked Isa, " This is my lifespan and I can decide what to do with it. Besides, weren't you excited to get this case over with so you can be rid of the Death Note?"

"I can't let you do this, Isa. I just can't let you do this." Key grabbed both Isa's arms, shaking his head, "It's my fault. This is all my fault."

"Why can't you let me make the eye deal, Key?" Isa asked, gently touching Key's cheek, "Don't be so upset. How is this your fault?"

Key took a deep breath. Steadying himself, he looked Isa straight in the eye.

"You can't make the eye deal because it is not necessary."

"Ah…He's coming out with it already," muttered Grimm, watching the whole scene play out with a smirk.

"Why, Key? What's going on?" Isa seemed genuinely confused for the first time.

"You can't make the eye deal because…" Key paused, his heart pounding from nerves, taking another deep breath to calm him down.

_I have to tell her. I can't let her hurt herself because I failed._

"Because I already have Shinigami Eyes."

* * *

**WHEEEW another chapter doooone~**

**Haaahhhhh ditzy characters with hidden depths are hard to write….I can understand how Misa went all dumb halfway down the line…this is hard to keep up… =A=**

**I feel like ending each chapter on some cliffhanger small or large is going to be a thing now…Geez…so much the drama going down in the DN universe…**

**Thank you Markrod10, my one reviewer~~~!**

**Feedback on this fic is genuinely appreciated, good or bad because I'm trying to improve my storytelling. :D**

**Read and Review people~**

**Xoxo **

**Sushifan123**


	7. Eyes

**Eyes**

* * *

June 8th, 2022

Manhattan, New York

A small boy crouched in a back alley of a crowded city street, holding his head.

Gevanni appeared from around the corner, looking frazzled.

"Key?" he asked, as he crouched down to look at the boy, "We don't have much time. What's wrong?"

"The names," said Key, quietly, shaking, "There are so many names and numbers. I-I don't think I can do this."

"Key," said Gevanni gently, "I know we're asking a lot from you. Even L does not know if it will work. But we have to try."

Key looked up at Gevanni with tear filled eyes. Gevanni's larger frame was blocking the rest of the crowd from view. Taking a deep breath and rubbing his eyes, Key nodded and stood up. Gevanni took Key's hand reassuringly and turned him to the crowded street. Key opened his eyes slowly and as his vision cleared, a flood of jumbled letters and numbers entered his vision. Key winced. There were so many people; his vision seemed to be completely obscured by the names and numbers. Key flinched back from the wall of text that seemed to overwhelm his vision. Gevanni squeezed his hand reassuringly.

"Um, ok," said Key hesitantly, "We're looking for the suicide bomber in the crowd. Do we have a name and face?"

"No." said Gevanni quietly, "I'm sorry, you're mostly on your own for this."

"I see," Key said, his mind working, too distracted from his calculations to be worried about the sea of humans in front of him, "The people in this area defiantly have very short lifespans, especially the people who are moving to the left. If we take into consideration the speed at which they're moving and they're remaining lifespans…about 10 minutes. The most likely point of detonation is the central square a few blocks to the left of us."

Gevanni stared at the small boy in awe. He gently pulled Key away from the crowd. They headed deeper into the alleyway and ascended to balcony of a nearby building, overlooking the square.

"Key, is it too far away?" asked Gevanni worried; they only had about 8 minutes left.

"No, I can see everyone perfectly fine," said Key, leaning over the railing, squinting, "Ok so, now to find the bomber. He's probably at the centre of the square, with a bag, although bombs can be small these days. Wait! The suicide bomber is _holding_ the bomb, meaning that he will die first when the bomb explodes. That means I have to locate the lifespan with the least amount of time left, even if it is a second before everyone else's."

Key's eyes darted back and forth as it combed through the crowd. His pupils shiver as he picks out numbers from a sea of names and lifespans.

"Found it!" said Key, pointing to the centre of the crowd, "The lowest lifespan!"

"Name?" asked Gevanni, taking out a cell phone.

"Cyrus Rannes," said Key, racing to the door and down the stairs.

"Yes, he fits the suspect profile," said Gevanni, still looking at his phone, "and terrorist affiliated too, wanted in this country and a couple of others. Wait, Key! Where are you going?"

"I'm going to stop him!" yelled the young boy over his shoulder, "By my count, more than 100 people will die, many more injured! I can't let it happen!"

"Key wait!" Gevanni yelled, racing after the boy, "You can't change the lifespans you see! You're putting yourself in grave danger!"

"We don't know for sure if my eyes can change lifespans!" Key yelled back, racing onto the street, "We do know that my eyes are different from normal Shinigami Eyes! Maybe it can change the fate of these people! I have to take that chance if it means that I can save them! Besides," he lied, he eyes catching a glimpse of his scared reflection as he ran past a window, looking at the lifespan above his head, slowly ticking down, "I have plenty of time left, I won't die here."

"Key…" Gevanni said as he caught up to Key easily, "At least allow me to protect you."

Key nodded as he plunged into the crowd, pushing past the taller forms of business people swarming the street, on their way to work. His eyes swept back and forth, trying to catch a glimpse of the words Cyrus Rannes. There was less than 2 minutes left.

"There!" said Key, as his eyes caught the end of Rannes to his right. Darting quickly between people, he reached out both hands as he grabbed a green army jacket from out of the crowd. Jumping and putting his whole weight behind him, Key rammed into the man named Cryus Rannes and they both fell in a tangle of limbs to the grounf.

"Stop! Please stop!" cried Key desperately, his eyes looked up horrified as he saw the numbers around him count down in unison, drawing closer to zero.

_I can't let them die here._

Grabbing the small duffle bag out of the surprised man's arms, he tossed it behind him, where Gevanni, emerging from the crowd caught it easily.

"Gevanni! Stop the bomb! You have 30 seconds!" Key ordered, still sitting on top of Rannes. People around them began registering the commotion and the meaning of Key's words and screams started as people began to push away from the three forms surrounding the duffle bag.

"What are you? How did you find me?" yelled Rannes, grabbing Key and shaking him, suddenly letting go, he laughed manically, "But it's too late. The bomb will explode in a couple of seconds, killing you, me and everyone here. Finally I will be rid of this world and return to Kira's side"

_A Kira worshipper_ Key thought absently to himself as he watched the number count down_ How ironic. I'm going to die because of a Kira worshipper._

And then, a flicker. Key rubbed his eyes as the numbers in his vision began to jump. Numbers that had once been very close to zero began to count up rapidly. The flickering started at the centre of the crowd and spread out slowly, as everyone's lifespan in the area began to increase. Key collapsed to his knees, blinded by the unending flicker of numbers, spinning around him.

"We're safe," he murmured as tears slid down his face from relief.

"What did you do?" the man yelled, spitting in Key's face, "Why didn't it go off? Who are you? How did you find me?"

He raised his arm, prepared to strike at the small form on the floor, still reeling from the blinding flicker of lifespans recovering. A shot rang out in the square, setting off screams from the onlooking crowd as the stampede grew, people climbing over people to escape.

"Step away from the boy," said Gevanni seriously, pointing his gun at the man, "That was a warning shot. Next time I won't be so nice."

"I do not fear you," said the man, stumbling back a bit, "You are the useless scum that can't even cleanse the evil from this earth and yet you stand against our Lord Kira's will."

Gevanni cocked his gun again, levelling it at the man calmly. Key's eyesight was slowly returning as he stood shakily.

"Wait, Gevanni," Key said quietly, "Something's wrong."

Key's focused his still blurry vision at Cyrus, straining to see his lifespan.

"We who follow the Lord do not shrink before the scum of the Earth," said the man, almost in a trance.

"Wait…" said Key as his eyes focused, "Wait, your lifespan, it's…"

"I have failed in my mission, my lord," Cyrus said, reaching into his pocket, "I will return to your side."

"Stop!" Key was on his feet yelling now, "I saved your life! But your lifespan hasn't changed! Stop it! Don't do it."

The man drew a knife from his pocket.

"No!" Key yelled lunging for the knife and the man. Before he could reach the man, he slit his throat, smiling insanely the whole time.

"Please, stop," the boy sobbed as blood began to flow, the body reeling and collapsing at his feet, "Why did you have to do this?"

Gevanni approached the boy quickly and covered his eyes, putting his jacket over his head, leading him away gently. Police and ambulance began to pull up, escorting people away from the scene and approaching the duffle bag and the dead man with hesitation and trepidation.

"The bomb is defused," Gevanni told the arriving authorities in clipped tones, "Please clear away the body as soon as possible. IF you have any questions, direct them to Wammy's or L."

Turning away from the chaos, Gevanni walked slowly with the young shivering boy. Staring at the trembling bundle wrapped in his jacket, Gevanni felt deeply for the young child who had to go through so much.

_He's only seven and he's already as brilliant as _he_ was. If he was alive, I wonder what kind of life he would have lead. Not that it matters; this boy would have been used regardless of whose side he was on. It's good that we found him first._

_These eyes can be the greatest weapons we have._

* * *

September 1st, 2029

Winchester, England

"Because I already have Shinigami's Eyes."

Isa stood perfectly still for a beat, her Pocky hanging out of her mouth. Then a small drop of liquid escaped the corner of her eye as the snack stick fell from her mouth. As it touched the floor, Isa suddenly burst into tears, sobbing where she stood like a small child.

"Waaaaaaaaaaaahhhhh!" She cried, rubbing at her eyes as tears streamed out.

Key and Grimm looked at each other, at a loss. _What am I supposed to do?_ Key mouthed in a panic at Grimm who merely shrugged in response.

"Um, I-Isa," said Key, "T-There's really no need for you to cry. I mean it's not as if I exchanged something for these Eyes. I was born with them, like BB was."

Isa, instead of stopping, cried even louder.

"Ok, maybe BB is not the greatest example," said Key, still in a panic, "Or are you scared of me? I'm very sorry Isa! I never told anyone besides L of the names I see."

Isa was still sobbing and sniffling as Key ran around, giving her tissues, more Pocky, a handkerchief.

"Please don't cry anymore Isa," pleaded Key, helplessly, "Here, I have some limited edition Pocky. I was saving it for your birthday, but have some. Please don't cry anymore."

Isa seemed to calm down as she chewed slowly on the Pocky stick.

"I-Its just so unfair" she sniffled, tear still leaking down her face, "All this time I knew that you had a big secret, but I'd never thought that I would be something like this!"

"Um Isa," said Key nervously, "It's really not that bad, I'm actually quite used to it."

"You've been through so much just because of them," she said quietly, "Don't you think it's a bit unfair?"

"The world is an unfair place, Isa." Key replied seriously.

"So." Isa had stopped crying and was now staring intently at Key, "How did you get used to the eyes? I thought the eyes gave you good vision, why do you still wear glasses? How are the lifespans displayed to you, a date? A countdown? Is it in Shinigami time or Human time? Do people's real names change if they get married? Is the name just the legal name or what the people identify themselves as. What if the person was never given a name? What happens if a person's name is in a different language? If you have the eyes already, how come you haven't identified Kira yet? Can you change the lifespans you see or are they set in stone? Have you ever seen L's real name?"

Key took a step back. Isa's curiosity was not to be underestimated.

"I trained my eyes," Key answered seriously, "I wear fake glasses, the distortions in the glass dull my vision and makes it easier for me to function normally. I see lifespans as a countdown in Shinigami time and I convert it. A person's 'name' is whatever they identify themselves as. Normally the name is imprinted on a child when they're young, so names don't usually change. But I have seen people whose names have changed after they marry. It's a mental thing. I see names in the language they're supposed to be in, whatever the owners of the name recognize themselves as. Everyone has a name, even newborns. Again, it's a mental thing. I haven't identified Kira yet because I can see everyone's lifespan, regardless of whether they have a Death Note or not because I was born with the eyes and they've adjusted to the butterfly effect the Death Note and other things like it cause. Most of the time, the lifespans are set in stone. They will die no matter what they do when the time runs out. Fate. But things like Death Notes and the like can change it."

Isa whistled.

"Wooow," she said, "That's a lot of stuff you've had to figure out yourself. I assume since you've trained your eyes and since you're at Wammy's you _have_ seen L's face. It's ok. I won't press you for it. You said that Death Notes and the like can change a person's lifespan. What else is there besides a Death Note."

"There's Key," said Grimm quietly from his spot where he was observing the entire exchange, "He was born with Shinigami Eyes. That already makes him unusual. But because this kid can see when a person is going to end, he can prevent certain things like murders or accidents. He's like the opposite of a Death Note. The Death Note shortens the life of the victim while lengthening the life of the owner. The Shinigami Eyes are different. They lengthen the life of people around them by being able to predict when the end comes, but do nothing to shorten life. You can't kill a person whose time isn't up unless you have a Death Note. It just doesn't work, as fate will prevent you. But using the Shinigami Eye's foresight, you can prevent fate from working and extend a person's life. Of course, that puts the eye owner in danger, as Fate doesn't like being messed around with. Usually to prevent murder, the murderer must die in exchange and accidents will endanger others or even the Eye owner themselves."

"I see, Mr. Shinigami," said Isa, "So, let's get down to business. If we're to find Kira, we need to first have a clear idea of how all this works. I know Shinigami aren't obligated to tell us anything about the rules that govern the Death Note, but since we're helping you with this, I'd like to hear all the rules."

"Seems fair," agreed Grimm, "You're lucky because you're talking to the one Shinigami that actually has a full set of rules on me. Most of the other guys don't even bother, as long as the Death Note works and keeps them alive, you know?"

Grimm sat down with Key and Isa, unrolling a scroll that was covered with strange drawings that curled to cover every inch of the parchment. In serious tones, Grim began to convey the many, many rules that governed the usage of the Death Note. Isa closed her eyes and listened quietly, smiling to herself. Key took out a notebook and scribbled down all the rules, paying close attention to the ones about the Shinigami Eyes. When it was over, Grimm sat back and let out a huge breath.

"Geez, that took forever," Grimm complained, "I didn't realize how many rules we had. And they're all so intricately worded."

"It's to prevent loopholes," said Key, reviewing the list, "There's a lot that I know, but some that I don't think even the original Kira knew. It's amazing how anyone can poke holes into such detailed rules."

"I've got it, everyone!" Isa said smiling, her eyes still closed

"Got what?" Key asked as he and Grimm looked at her quizzically.

"I know how to find Kira."

* * *

**Aaaah another chapter dooone…..**

**These things are getting longer. Now I know why the manga is so freaking wordy….these deductions and stuff are hard to word out….**

**In any case…the flashback is super long this chapter because it originally started as Key saving someone from being killed and evolved into this epic bomb chaser, time counting down policework thingy….blame it on all the Sherlock and Leverage I'm watching….**

**Please Read and Review….i only have one reviewer (ily Markrod10) and I would really appreciate some feedback on my writing :D**

**Xoxo**

**Sushifan123**


	8. Plans

**Plans**

* * *

February 7th, 2010

Location Unknown

"L," said Roger through the speakerphone.

Near didn't react. He was staring at a pile of dice, adding one gently on top of the other.

"L," Roger repeated through the speaker. Near's fingers paused, he looked up.

"Yes, Watari?" he said calmly, glancing back at his tower, placing another dice on the stack.

"L, I've received a report from Japanese officials," said Roger, "Teru Mikami committed suicide this morning in his cell."

Near's hand jerked a bit to the side, sending the delicate tower of dice clattering to the floor.

"I see. How did he manage that?" said Near, his eyes still staring at the spot where the tower had been, "I thought he was on Suicide Watch since his arrest."

"Yes, well apparently he bit off his own tongue," continued Roger, unfazed by the commotion, "he left a note on the wall reading: 'I return to you, my Lord.'"

"And Misa Amane?" asked Near, his gaze unwavering.

"Still at the hotel under the watch of Matsuda," said Roger, "Hopefully she will be none the wiser."

"Unlikely," said Near, "Matsuda is very emotional at this time."

"Yes," said Roger, "I suppose you're right."

Near rose from his seat on the floor, stepping on the scattered dice. He padded barefoot to the spot where he had burned the Death Notes, just 10 days ago. The ashes still shifted restlessly around in the tray next to a microscope loaded with slides of the ashes. Near's fingers skimmed across the floating ashes, his fingers thin and delicate. Grabbing a handful, he raised a fist over his head and let the ash float slowly into the tray, his eyes unblinking as he stared at the grey matter, spiraling down.

"And so it ends."

* * *

September 1st, 2029

Winchester, England

"So?" asked Isa, her eyes big as she leaned over Key, "Do you get it?"

"Y-yeah…" stuttered Key as he moved his glasses. He still didn't like people getting too close.

"It's never going to work," said Grimm casually from his corner, smirking a bit, "It's far too complicated to work."

"That's not right, Mr. Shinigami~!" Isa complained, toppling Key over with her full weight in a huff, "You're supposed to say: 'Wow, Isa! What a great plan~! It may just be crazy enough to work!'"

"So you admit that it's crazy?" said Grimm calmly, watching Key struggle to get up, "So many things have to go exactly right for it to work."

"It's fine Grimm," said Key, finally sitting up, shaking under Isa's full weight, "The universe has a strange way of bending itself to her will. It'll work out…somehow."

"And now to the first order of business~!" Isa squealed in happiness, bolting for the door.

"Wait," said Key, still sitting, his face unreadable, "Everything's happening way too quickly. It hasn't even been a day since Ab-I mean Isaac died. Besides, you haven't even explained to me why you're so instantly trusting. I'm _not_ Kira, but I wouldn't be surprised if you suspected me more or even turned me over to L. Even he suspected me first out of everyone."

"That again?" Isa turned around, still cheerful, "I hate repeating myself you know?"

"You didn't say anything about it…." said Key seriously, "How do I know you're not going to turn me in? You're a Kira supporter. Neither me nor the 'Kira' that's threatening L is whom you really consider 'Kira'. What's stopping you from turning me in as a scapegoat and becoming Kira yourself?"

Isa looked at him quietly for a minute and then sat opposite him, taking his hands into her own.

"I like you, Key. I really do," said Isa grinning, "I'm not going to turn you in because frankly, I couldn't care either way."

"What?" Key said, surprised, staring at her.

"I've always been a fan of Kira, yes," Isa continued, still smiling happily, "But, really, I'm just bored. Justice and love is wonderful, yes, but I want something to fill my time. Sitting here at Wammy's isn't enough. I want to do something, anything."

"Well, well, well," said Grimm, looking mildly amused, "That's totally different from a few hours ago. She's breaking her established character. This human seems a bit unstable, interesting."

"Isa" said Key, hesitantly, "are you OK?"

"That's mean, Mr. Shinigami~" said Isa, happily, placing a new Pocky in her mouth, "I'm exactly the same as before!"

"But then why the motive shift, Isa?" said Grimm a growing grin on his face, "You said before that you were all for Love and Justice."

"I am," said Isa, solidly, "But I can't do any of that just sitting here in Wammy's. I'm bored, and Key's not boring, is that so wrong?"

"What?" Key was still confused.

"Listen, Key." Isa said looking happily at Key, "I'm bored and you're my solution. I don't care if you use me. I'll do it all for you."

Taking Key's hand, Isa hugged it to herself, still smiling brightly.

"I love you Key," she said a bit too cheerfully, "I'll do anything for you because you will change this stagnant life we lead in Wammy's."

"I-Isa?" said Key, a bit creeped out.

"I feel so bad," said Isa, tearing up a bit, "You've had to deal with this secret for so long, but it's ok now because I'm here for you. I understand."

"This is getting a bit weird," commented Grimm, "I can't tell if she's doing this on purpose or not."

"I'll be here for you!" said Isa happily, ignoring Grimm's comments, "I'll be your protector, your tool, anything you want."

"Wait, Isa, that's really not necessary," said Key, pulling on his hand, "I get it, you trust me, I'm really glad. Can you please stop this now?"

"I'll be here," repeated Isa, her eyes glinting with a strange light, "And if anyone gets in my way I'll kill them."

Both Grimm and Key froze, staring at the still grinning Isa. Her teeth crunched down on the Pocky stick hanging from her mouth, making the other two jump.

"OK~!" she said, as if nothing had happened, "On to business~!"

Isa flounced out of the room as Key and Grimm stared dumbfounded after her.

"I'm beginning to think letting her help is a bad idea," said Grimm, with a sardonic grin on his face

"What can we do really?" said Key, looking resigned, "Isa may seem completely random due to her strange logic, but she's a force of nature that can't be stopped. Besides, I'm pretty sure she'll find ways to get rid of both of us if we didn't go along with her."

"Somehow," said Grimm, his grin growing, "That doesn't surprise me. This is going to get interesting."

* * *

Key stood outside a plain wooden door, shifting from foot to foot. Isa stood besides him, hugging his arm.

"I think I've got everything," said Key, checking his collar and his hair before glancing over at Isa, "Anything else off balance?"

"Relax Key," she grinned, "We'll be in and out before you know it. We do have to visit all of them before too long."

Key look a deep breath and knocked on the door three times, making sure to time his knocks carefully.

"Enter" a muffled voice sounded from the room.

Isa pushed the door impatiently open, bursting into the room

"Hello Gill~!" she said happily, springing into the room, "How are you?"

"Hello Isa." Gill said quietly, barely glancing up from the mirror where she stood, "A pleasure as always. You're nicely balanced as usual. And Last-Place. You fixed your hair."

"Wow. This is very strange," said Grimm, stepping into the room, unseen by Gill, "I think this room is making me a bit dizzy."

The room that they stepped in was perfectly circular. Furniture built out of identical cubes where placed precisely in the room, making it perfectly symmetrical in every direction. Gill stood at the very center of the room, where a small mirror and vase of flowers were placed, also in perfect symmetry. Gill was fidgeting her hair, moving each strand by millimeters with her delicate fingers, looking slightly troubled.

"Last Place. Close the door and move 3.4 centimeters to the left. You're not framing the door correctly. I hate leaving that door open. It destroys the symmetry. Perhaps I should build double doors." Gill said, still not looking up as she twitched a strand of hair on her forehead infinitesimally to the right.

Key looked down nervously as he complied. Gill had laid tape rulers down all over her room like a grid, allowing for perfect positioning of everything in her room.

"So, Gill," said Isa, utterly unfazed and moving a couple of cubes into a chair and sitting down, "What have you been up to? I see you've finally finished making your room into a perfect cylinder."

"Yes," said Gill shortly, flicking yet another hair into place. "I couldn't stand the room's corners being off by 0.98 degrees because of the slant to his shoddily made house. Now that I'm finished fixing that, I can focus on more pressing matters."

"How is she able to see that?" said Grimm, very amused, "Even my Shinigami Eyes are having a bit of trouble picking it out. This room is really perfect in symmetry."

Key coughed a bit and fixed his glasses. He was always the most uncomfortable around Gill. Although she did not seem mean in anyway, the strange ambivalence Gill projected at Key always made him uncomfortable. Like he was just another object she had to balance in her perfectly symmetric world. The one exception to her symmetry was Isa. Gill claimed that Isa was already perfectly balanced, making Isa the only person at Wammy's House able to communicate on a semi-normal level with Gill.

"But this is unusual," continued Gill, turning to fix the other side of her hair, "You don't usually visit without reason, Isa. Especially with someone in tow."

"That's right!" said Isa, opening a new pack of Pocky, "I'm here to discuss Kira~!"

Key flinched a little. Leave it to Isa to get right to the point.

"Kira?" said Gill with no change in inflection, still focused on her hair, "Perfectly horrible murderer."

"Is that so?" said Isa, chewing thoughtfully on the end of the stick, "I have to admit, it was a touch theatrical. But first kills always are, on some level."

"Yes," agreed Gill monotonously, brushing another strand over, "No sense of symmetry at all. I'm not going to be able to go to the common room for a while without a headache."

"_That's_ what she's worried about?" said Grimm, chuckling, "Man, you kids have some screwed up senses of priority."

"Awww, poor Gill!" said Isa sympathetically, "Would you like me to get you something to make you feel better? How about I develop some images of C60 for you on the electron microscope?"

"Thank you, but Buckminsterfullerene won't help my headaches," said Gill, finally looking up from her mirror and walking over to Isa, counting her steps so that she reached her in precisely six. Running both hands through Isa's hair Gill smiled a bit, "Just looking at your good symmetry helps. Sadly I was not born with good roots like you, my hair still gives me headaches. I can barely get my casework done for L this week."

Isa grinned back, crunching down on a new Pocky,

"Well I finished mine. Want me to help?" asked Isa, still smiling.

Every Letter is assigned a small amount of cases by L. Usually they are small, not the usual cases L takes on, but solving even small cases under L's other aliases of Eraldo Coil and Deneuve was already an honor. It was also a way for Wammy's House to make more money, allowing it to take more orphans into its care. The cases were usually targeted to the Letter's special skill in order to improve their respective talents. Key received a pile of kidnapping and criminal line-ups secretly every day since he was small. Gill was assigned cold cases, analyzing tiny details from decades old case files and evidence collections. Hato spent hours scanning cameras and the Internet for virtual criminals. Fred spent his days building tin foil hats and seeking out terrorist cells by tracking them over mountains of financials. Isa and J both received veritable mountains of cases of all sorts, as proof of their closeness to L. Each case was like a game to the Letters, a way to crawl ever closer to the desired title of the greatest detective. Despite this effort from the residents of Wammy's and L himself, crime continued to climb, undeterred, until it towered above even the days before Kira existed.

Gill was still examining Isa's "flawless" roots. Key saw Isa's fingers flutter out of the corner of his eye. He nodded back imperceptibly. Moving slowly and quietly to the nearest cube, he rolled a tiny strip of clear plastic over the bottom edge of the cube, it glowed brightly for a second with a red blinking dot before it faded, camouflaging perfectly with the rest of the cube, invisible. Key moved back to where he stood, and nodded again to Isa.

"Well, Gill~!" Isa said cheerfully, "I hope you feel better but I really must go!"

"Goodbye then," Gill said, turning away, her back to the door. "Close the door quickly behind you before it gives me a migraine."

Isa nodded and replaced her chair cubes back to where they came, restoring the perfect symmetry of the circular room and flounced out the door. Key followed quickly, closing the door quietly behind him, he leaned against the door breathing out slowly.

"Well~" said Isa happily, "That's the hardest one down~!"

"She'll notice very quickly," said Key, his head in his hands, "I can barely see it with my eyes, meaning that she'll notice it very soon."

"Don't worry~" said Isa, "We just need it to hold up for the next day or so. Plus she's low on the list of suspects."

"Isa." Key said quietly, still in the throws of regret, "The list of suspects is 6 people long."

"Relax Key!" Isa said, throwing her arms around him, "Everything will me just fine."

Gill was standing in her room, motionless. Taking a deep breath in and pressing the palms of her hands to her eyes, she crossed the room and pressed a cube mounted on the wall labelled "Call"

"Yes. They planted it just like you said. Horrifically off center too. Are you sure I can't move it? Fine."

She paused, listening to the voice on the other end give directions.

"They're coming for you, you know? Be ready."

* * *

**Is it me or is a mental instability a prerequisite for admission into Wammy's?**

**I'm sorry I couldn't update over the weekend…busy…**

**Isa's becoming more and more of a mix between Misa and Gasai Yuno…what do to…. Characters with Insane Troll Logic motivations are annoying to write…**

**The flashbacks can seem a bit non-sequitur, but they have a purpose…eventually…**

**In any case, please continue with the feedback! You guys really help me improve the finer aspects of the story~**

**Read and Review!**

**Xoxo**

**Sushifan123**


	9. Divide

**Divide**

* * *

March 29th, 2026

Winchester, England

"Everyone," said Rester to the room full of children, "Please welcome our newest member of Wammy's House. Would you like to introduce yourself?"

A small girl with curly blonde hair stepped out from behind Rester, beaming. Murmurs ran through the crowd of gathered kids. It wasn't often they got a new member, and even more rare, a pretty girl.

"Nice to meet you everyone!" she said, smiling brightly at everyone, causing quite a few people to blush.

A young boy known as Key stared at her from a corner. He saw her angel-like face grin in his direction as he automatically noted her real name and calculated her lifespan.

"Hey!" a voice sounded from the opposite wall, "So what put you here, of all places?"

J was leaning against the wall, perched on a table. It was his habit to jerk the new kids around a bit, just to show them who's in charge.

"Hello~" she said, unfazed, "Let's get along, what's your name?"

"It's James today," James said arrogantly, looking down at her from his table, "I don't suppose you're another one of those sob stories like Gill the metal patient, right?"

"Today…" the girl said, looking a bit vague, "Does that mean your name changes everyday? How will I remember what to call you? Ah well, I suppose that means any J name should do. Can I call you Jan then? Technically it should be a J name, but it's not really pronounced like a J name. Is that ok? I've never met a Jan in real life before…"

James' eyebrow twitched a bit in annoyance, but his smile didn't fade. He simply moved closer until he was staring into her eyes.

"Interesting," he said, grinning a bit wider, "We've got someone interesting here for a change."

"I know it's an alias for you," she continued, her eyes not focused on James right in front of her, but on some point in the distance, "What if someone's real name was subject to change everyday? Does that mean they must constantly file new paperwork? I wonder if the Death Note would work on them? How would Kira kill someone whose true name changed every day? _Can_ you change your true name by will? How would the Death Note work on someone who was never given a name?"

James was getting more annoyed by the girl's continued obliviousness to his presence.

"Cut the crap, little girl," he said, "We don't talk about Kira here."

"Why ever not?" she asked, confused, "Don't you think he's _wonderful_? Taking action, doling out righteous Justice and love with the pen? It took 3 generations of L to get him~ I bet he was _wonderful_ when he was here."

Everyone gasped. It was one thing to postulate about the mysterious murder notebook. Everyone did that at one point in time here, but to openly show admiration for L's greatest enemy at the school for his successors?

"That's it," growled James, all the humor gone from his face, "That's it. Don't you dare go against L's wishes in front of me! Who are you and where did you—?"

"So _you're_ the girl who was involved in that bloody mess last month. Girl A," said a bundle from the corner, making everyone jump, "Not that it really matters There are enough crazy people here already. Welcome."

Everyone stared at Isa wide eyed. Everyone had heard of it on the news.

"Girl A. Real name never released to the public because of her young age. No wait—here it is. Better wipe it. I guess they weren't very thorough with the erasing before you arrived. But then again they're not me, and privacy's a joke these days, especially since you're so famous," said Hato in monotone. He was probably the most capable person besides Key when it came to looking for someone's true name. "Age: 12, Nationality: American. Involved in the Bloody Alice serial killings. Well…when I say 'involved'…let's see. Perpetrator: Alice White. Entered home of three: mother, father, daughter—that's you—looking to kill that household as her 5th set of victims. Succeeded in killing mother and father. Daughter, returning home from school, walks in on murderer with dead father and mother. Hmm…the report gets fuzzy here…I suppose the witness account was shoddy. I wonder why... Daughter later found standing over dead murderer's body, drenched in blood. White stabbed 47 times. Ruled self-defense. Interesting."

Everyone continued to stare at the girl who was still smiling brightly. Reaching into her pocket, she pulled out a pack of strawberry flavored Pocky.

"What's wrong everyone?" she said, still beaming, chewing on a new stick, "Wouldn't you do the same for someone you love?"

A strange light seemed to glint in her eyes. Key, who was still staring at the girl, swallowed. This girl was bad news.

"I would do everything for the people I love," she said calmly, "Everything. And besides, it was ruled self defense. I'm lucky to have made it out alive."

She spun around to face the rest of the room, smiling. The Pocky stick she held snapped in half in her had as he bit down hard on the end.

"Hello everyone, my name is Isa," Isa said smiling, "I hope we'll all get along~"

* * *

September 1st, 2029

Winchester, England

"Are you ready, Key?" asked Isa, excitedly, bouncing up and down on the balls of her feet.

"Ready to die?" said Key warily, stretching, "Never."

"Oh come on," retorted Isa, also stretching her legs, "How bad can it be?"

"Bad?" said Key, becoming even more unwilling; "There's a good reason why no one wants to live in this entire hallway. Last time I was here, I nearly lost my head."

"Don't exaggerate Key," said Isa, warming up, "This will be fun~ Think of it like an obstacle course."

"An obstacle course that can take off your head…" Key muttered sourly to himself.

"Wait what are you guys talking about?" asked Grimm, confused, "What are you guys doing in that getup?"

"Shut up, Shinigami," said Key, in a bad mood now, "Not everyone can just turn themselves corporeal and pass through danger. We humans get hurt easily you know?"

"Yes," said Grimm patiently, "But we're just in a hallway, what danger can there be?"

Isa and Key was standing at the bottom of a large staircase, dressed in sports jerseys and limbering up as if they had a marathon to run.

"Not just any hallway," said Key sourly, "_His_ hallway. You won't find a more dangerous place outside a warzone. To be honest, I'm pretty sure warzones aren't even this dangerous."

"Key, I'm telling you, stop worrying so much!" Isa said happily, taking out headbands labeled 'Work Hard!' and tying them to their foreheads, "For morale! Japanese do this right?"

Key sighed resignedly.

"Let's just get this over with," he muttered, "I hate doing this every time I need to talk to him."

"Wait I still don't understand," said Grimm, "Do wha—"

"GO~!" Isa yelled cheerfully at the top of her lungs.

Isa and Key surged forward like sprinters up the stairs with Grim in the tow, amused. Key's foot touched the rug on the 3rd stair up, causing it to sink a bit with a click

"To your left!" He yelled at Isa.

Isa turned and ducked gracefully, her hair narrowly getting sliced by a barrage of arrows that came shooting out of a hole mounted in the wall to her left. Turning with the momentum, she kicked a falling log mounted on some tripwire out of the way as they continued to dash forward up the stairs.

"The next to last step is false!" said Isa cheerfully as she bounced up the stairs after Key.

Key's heels dug into the carpet as he sprung, the next to last stair falling away to reveal spikes planted into the boards. Isa skipped over the step lightly as they continued to run.

"Couldn't we've just sent one of those anti-bomb robots like Hato does?" yelled Key as they took out pliers and quickly cut the razor sharp and barely visible wires strung all over the landing, not losing their momentum. "Who do we have to do this in person?"

"Isn't it more fun this way?" exclaimed Isa, quickly pulling the wicks from a pile of Molotov cocktails that fell from the ceiling and stomping them out, "He really thinks of such creative traps~ They get better every time I visit."

"That's really not a good thing," said Key grabbing the live grenades being launched at him and throwing them casually out the open window. No one likes going outside anyways.

"I think I agree with the girl for once," said Grimm chuckling as he floated ahead of them, "This is fun to watch. Oh look, trip wires."

Key and Isa leaped over them in unison, landing shoulder to shoulder and rolling together under a large spring triggered axe swinging over their heads.

"I'm so glad I take all the classes," said Key to himself, kicking away a cage of cobras "If I didn't train capoiera like everyone else, I'd be dead."

"See?" said Isa happily, pulling the ends of a wire down as she jumped, cutting through the tiny gun turrets following them, "I told you. You're doing fine."

"How is she following up with this?" said Grimm, surprised as Isa kicked down yet another turret, "She's probably stronger than you."

"How am I supposed to know?" said Key, stressed as he jumped over a mine planted on the floor, "She's Isa. By the way, which room does he live in again?"

"I thought you knew!" said Isa, a Pocky still hanging from her mouth as she dodged more arrows from the walls, "We'll just have to check all the rooms. He's the only one on the floor after all~"

Key swore under his breath.

"It won't work," he said with an edge of desperation, "He traps some of the empty rooms with stuff that triggers when you check the door"

"Wait I remember something about the furthest room from the stairway," said Isa as she dodged a fired taser, "I think he said he like the corner room so he could see if someone was coming for him."

Key sighed. He pushed a crossbow out of the way as they both headed to the last room in the hall.

"Knock?" Isa asked, smiling.

"Don't bother," said Key grumpily.

They both jumped together over the final obstacle, two boxing fists on springs, and in one fluid motion, kicked down the door at the end.

"What do you want?" sounded a weak voice from within the room.

"Hello Fred~!" said Isa, finishing her Pocky stick.

"Why can't you just turn this stuff off when you see it's us?" asked Key, exhausted.

"Everyone is an enemy," said Fred, who was sitting on his desk chair, "I don't trust any of you to not kill me. Not even you, Key."

"I love the improvements you've made to the hall~" said Isa, not even winded, "The traps are getting better and better."

"You broke through them though," said Fred, chewing on his thumbnail, "looks like I'll have to upgrade after all. I wonder what happened to that weapons-grade plutonium?"

"You can get your hands on weapons-grade plutonium?" said Isa, lighting up, "I want some~!"

"How do you kids…?" said Grimm, looking faintly amused.

"I don't even ask anymore," Key muttered under his breath, "Wammy's House runs on a different set of logic than everyone else…"

"So Fred, we wanted to talk to you about the Kira case…"

* * *

Isa and Key had returned to the bottom of the flight of stairs.

"That took far too long," said Key, flopping down with exhaustion on the steps and popping straight back up when he triggered the arrows.

"It was fun, but yes it took a bit too long," agreed Isa, starting a new pack of Pocky, "we still have two more to go."

"We won't have time before tomorrow," said Key, passing a hand over his eyes, "It takes too long, if we were any faster they'd get suspicious."

"How about this?" said Isa grinning, "We'll split up for the last two. Jack wouldn't talk to me anyways."

"Fine," said Key, already heading down the hall, "Grimm, you can go with whoever."

"Go with Key," said Isa, smiling, "I'll be fine. Hato has a million electronics in his room already, it'll be easy to add one."

"Whatever you say," said Grimm, "Although I doubt you two could top the show just now. That was seriously very amusing."

Grinning, Grimm turned to follow Key as Isa walked in the opposite direction.

She walked quickly to the end of the hall and turned into the door on the right. Knocking twice she entered smoothly without hesitation or waiting for a reply.

"Hello Isa," Hato was sitting on the floor, surrounded by hover screens and robots, clad in a blanket as usual, his back turned to Isa, "Have you come for me?"

"Yes," said Isa, smiling widely, drawing out her Death Note, "But you know that already, don't you?

"Yes."

* * *

**DUN DUN DUUUUUUNNN**

**I love a good cliffhanger….**

**My goodness I'm just making Isa more and more off her rocker….just look at that back story.**

**A short chapter this time...my part time job is exhausting...**

**It was really fun thinking of weird booby traps Fred would have in his hallway. You don't really get good action scene opportunities in a Death Note verse.**

**I was bored this morning so I made a RP forum featuring characters from this fic…check it out~ You can play as one of the Letters :D**

**Read and Review please~~**

**Xoxo**

**Sushifan123**


	10. Love

**Love**

* * *

December 24th, 2019

Winchester, England

"Matsuda-san," asked a young Key, "When might I visit Mother?"

Matsuda turned towards the small boy, pain clearly evident on his face. Smiling sadly, he patted Key on the head gently.

"I'm sorry, Key," he said gently, "I know it's hard to live apart from your mother, especially on Christmas, but not this year."

"But I want to see her _now_!" complained Key, tears forming at the corners of his eyes, "Is it because I'm a bad boy? Is it because Mother doesn't want to see me?"

"Your mother loves you very much," said Matsuda seriously, kneeling in front of the small boy and taking his hands, "She sends her regards. It's very hard for her to be so far from you too, but we have to do this. I'm very sorry, Key."

"No!" said Key, "You're all keeping Mother away from me on purpose! I want to see her! I want to see her right now!"

He ran to the large computer screen hanging on the wall of the office, banging his small fists on the Letter emblazoned across the screen.

"I know you're in there!" yelled Key furiously, tears not streaming unchecked down his cheeks, "Tell me! Why can't I see mother!"

"It's because of your eyes," a voice bubbled bluntly from the speakers, "We can't let you see her until we are sure you are completely safe, to yourself and others. If you continue to train quietly, you can see her someday, but now we know too little."

"Near!" protested Matsuda, "He's just four, you cant just—!"

"He asked," The voice replied simply, making it clear that the discussion was over.

"If you don't let me see Mother right now, I'll…" Key was still sobbing, pounding against the screen, "I'll tell everyone! I'll tell it to everyone and anyone! I want to see my mother, Nate! Please let me see my mother, Nate River!"

Matsuda grabbed the small child in a hug, patting his head while glaring into the camera mounted on the screen.

"Blackmail, huh?" said the voice, indifferent, "You _are_ becoming more and more like him..."

"Who?" the little boy said, confused, still sniffling into Matsuda's shirt.

"Never mind," said the speaker, "Besides, it would be bad to waste your best trump card on something so trivial."

"That's what's you're worried about?" said Matsuda, still trying to calm the young boy, "He just misses his mother, that's all. Any child of his age would."

"I want to see mother…"said Key, resigned and calm in Matsuda's arms.

"Meh. At least you have a mother," said a new voice from the door, "Or at least one that you want to see."

"J?" Key looked over Matsuda's shoulder to see the thin form of the older boy, grinning and leaning on the doorframe.

"I, for one, don't see the obsession," said the young J, "Most of us are orphans, so you're one of the lucky ones. Enjoy it. Although I really shouldn't be talking I guess."

Walking calmly closer to the screen and grinning directly into the camera as if he could see into the other side, J considered the camera for a while before he spoke again.

"Hello Mother," he said without a trace of emotion, "Merry Christmas. Working late with L again, I assume?"

"Hello, son" and equally cold voice sounded from the speaker, no longer the L distorted voice, but a chilly female one, "Don't cause too much trouble for Mr. Rester over there."

"I would never~" said J dripping with false sweetness, "Go run back to your post now, mother. I understand that saving the world is far more important than being a single mother for your only son~!"

"If you behave, I will send more puzzles for you to solve," replied the female speaker coldly, "It's what you wanted for Christmas yes?"

"Of course," said J, smiling, "Did you bring down the gang with the tip I sent you?"

"Who do you think I am?" the voice replied arrogantly through the speaker, "Really, your sexism is even worse than your father's used to be."

"Bye now~" said J smiling into the camera. He walked calmly away from the screen, pausing right before he reached the door, glancing back at Key who was still a tear streaked mess in Matsuda's arms, "Get yourself cleaned up, kid. There is no such thing as motherly love at Wammy's. Merry Christmas."

* * *

September 1st, 2029

Winchester, England

Isa and Hato stared at each other quietly for a beat before Isa grinned and put away her note, flopping down on Hato's bed.

"So, how did you figure it out?" she asked, looking at Hato below lowered lashes, "Something similar to what we're doing, right?

"Nothing so archaic," said Hato, his face still blank, "I have surveillance everywhere. It's so cute how you two still believe in privacy."

"Well, you got me there," said Isa, giggling, "Well since you know everything, I assume that you also know that both of us aren't Kira and about Key's eyes?"

"Well," said Hato, "There's still the possibility that one of you two is still Kira, the murder did off Isaac without my cameras catching after all. Plus, Key even knows all of our real names. That makes him even a bigger suspect. But then again, I've known about his eyes for years."

"Have you?" said Isa, "Dang it! And I was hoping that I knew him the best~!"

"It's simply really," said Hato, scrolling through some files on his hover screen, "He's the only member of Wammy's who has living relatives other than J. J makes sense since his only living relative is a close aide to L and therefore has no time to raise him. But, Key's relatives are all civilians. The closest I can tie him to L or even law enforcement in general is some of his older relatives were retired police force. But that's it. Meaning that Key himself has some ability that ties him incredibly close to L. Considering his Letter, his rank and his obsession with Kira and BB cases, it's not a huge leap."

"You're a bit too much sometimes~" complained Isa, "Hacker characters really have all the cheats~! What convenient lives your type must lead~~!"

"Convenient enough to have several bounties on my head from various countries," replied Hato in a monotone, "Including several very annoyed Triads after my blood."

"Exactly~" agreed Isa, "Everyone cares about you. Must be nice~"

"You're one strange kid," Hato said, still staring, unblinking at the screen, "So I suppose you're here to kill me now?"

"What makes you think that?" said Isa, sitting up and looking at him with a smile.

"Well, first of all, I know that you two have Death Notes and told no one about it," listed Hato, seeming a bit bored, "I could easily accuse you two of being Kira and get brownie points from L. Second, I know that you've been planting cameras in everyone's rooms, meaning that you have some plan in the works that I can mess up. Thirdly, you already said that you'd do anything for Key, meaning that because I know too much, I already pose a potential threat to you both. And finally, and certainly not least, I know your real name. I'm very good at finding names, and, you have no guarantee that I'm not the Kira that killed Isaac. Killing me here has all pros and no cons. You can even pin it on the other Kira as his second killing."

"Well geez, Hato," said Isa grinning at him, "I didn't know you were so eager to die."

"Just stating the facts," said Hato, blandly, "I would, however prefer to live. But dying by Death Note would be quite interesting."

"Well, as much as I would like to kill you," said Isa, her eyes gleaming with a strange light, "I don't know your name. _And_ more importantly, it would make my Key very sad if I asked him for your name and you wound up dead."

"Then what are you doing here?" asked Hato, still not looking up from his screen, "To bother me?"

"I'm here to plant a camera in your room, remember?" said Isa happily, placing the tiny device on the head of Hato's bed, "And to tell you. That if you even think about touching Key, I will end you like I ended Alice White."

"So you don't care about yourself?" asked Hato, finally looking up at Isa, examining her face.

"No. I don't. Just don't hurt Key," said firmly, before smiling politely and flouncing out the door.

Hato watched as the door closed behind her and sighed. Waving vaguely over to a different hover screen he pressed a few buttons and stared at the interface.

"See?" he said, "I told you, nothing to worry about. Now that we know where some of the Death Notes are, we can begin the research."

* * *

Isa lingered outside the door that just closed behind her. Grabbing handfuls of her hair in her hands she slid down to sit on the floor, talking to herself, her eyes wide with uncertainty and fear.

"I did the right thing, right Key?" she muttered, her eyes wide, "I did it for you, will you love me now? I did the right thing because it's all for your sake. I did the right thing. I did the right thing."

The fear faded from her eyes, replaced by a manic glint and a wide smile.

"I did the right thing because I love you, Key~!"

* * *

Key headed back to the library. That was where J, today, Jack was lingering before the murder. Sure enough, he was still sitting on the same table Key had left him on, now with the open Kira file on his lap, talking fast into a cell phone.

_How ironic,_ Key thought as he walked up to Jack who was glancing down at the mostly empty file on his lap,_ Our roles were reversed just this morning. Time passes so slowly, I feel like that happened weeks ago…_

"I get it, old hag," Jack was saying irritably into the phone, "I _know_ L destroyed all the files but there has to be a copy _somewhere_. Years of investigation don't just disappear. Plus, you were there personally. So was Father. Can't you just _tell_ me yourself?"

Key drew back a bit. Jack was clearly arguing with his mother on the phone.

"What do you me you can't tell me?" said Jack, getting more and more annoyed, "It's very important! Kira is here at Wammy's _right now_ and I need all the information I can find. What do you mean you're not _allowed_ to tell me? Yes, It _does_ involve me too? Or are you forgetting that my biological father _died_ during this case before I was even born? Don't I ever get to know how he died? Or who killed him?"

Jack eyebrow twitched in annoyance as the person on the other end clearly hung up on him. He noticed Key, hesitating a few meters away, wondering if it was fine for him to approach. He waved Key over.

"Mothers, huh?" said Jack, smiling and shrugging, "has more love for L than her own son, not that I blame her. Says that I shouldn't call back until I have something else to say besides complaining."

"Finally looking into the missing Kira reports?" said Key, peering into the familiar binder, catching a glimpse of an underlined name before Jack snapped it shut. _Yagami_.

"I get it," said Jack grinning into Key's face, "There is a point to reviewing the Kira cases. Sadly I have no leads. Everyone who was involved is either dead or sworn into some kind of secrecy by L. Strange."

"Yes," said Key, moving his glasses, "Strange."

"So what did you want?" asked Jack, tapping Key with the Kira binder, "Where you looking to read your favorite file or were you looking for me?"

Key stepped back a bit, nervous and adjusted his glasses again. Jack really had no sense of personal space.

"The file," said Key, holding a hand out for the binder.

"Aww, don't be shy, kiddo~" teased Jack, grabbing back the binder, "I'm pretty sure you've memorized this entire thing. It's my turn to obsess."

"So you're looking for this Kira then?" asked Key innocently as he pretended to brush off a spot of dirt, planting the camera onto Jack's shoulder.

"Yes," Jack's eyes began to glow with excitement and competitiveness, "Once I dig out this bastard Kira, I'll bring his head to L on a silver platter and prove to everyone that I'm still number one."

"I see," said Key, turning to walk away, "Good luck then."

Jack reached out lazily and snagged Key's arm, dragging him back to stare into his eyes.

"I'm only saying this once, so listen up Last-Place," said Jack, looking deadly serious, smiles gone, "I don't trust anyone in this house, but you don't seem like the type to be Kira and I do enjoy you. Stay away from the other Letters. They're all very fishy. Any one of them can be Kira and kill without batting an eye. Trust no one, especially that bitch Isa. I'll admit that she's smart, but that girl is crazy in so many ways, you have no idea. So, you better stay out of the way or you'll get caught in between this whole mess, and you're not going to come out alive."

Key looked into Jack's dark and unreadable eyes and nodded once. Jack grinned again and let go of Key's arm, turning back to the file. Key stumbled back a bit and began to walk away.

"I guess we're gonna have to call a rain check on that name game, Key," called Jack cheerfully over his shoulder, "Cuz the real deal is starting right around the corner!"

Key walked faster out of the library.

_Thank you, Jack for worrying about me. But I was born already tangled in this Kira mess. Just like you, Jorn Keehl._

* * *

Key walked back to his room and was hit by a flying figure as soon as he entered the door.

"KEEEEYY~~~" screamed Isa as she hugged him, "OH~ How I've missed you! I was so bored I started to watch SakuraTV~"

"I've only been gone for about 30 minutes." Key said, flustered by Isa's energy, "Did you plant the camera?"

"Uh huh~" nodded Isa eagerly, "How about you? Jack wasn't in his room."

"I planted it on his shoulder," said Key, "I'm really surprised he didn't notice."

"Ah well~" Isa flapped her hands dismissively, "have you seen the size of clothing he wears? I doubt he'd notice if we stuffed a cat down there while he was asleep~!"

"Um, Hello…guys?" said Grimm, who had been floating behind Key the whole time, "I'm feeling horribly ignored. Did the author forget to give me lines or something?"

"Grimm," Key sighed, "You know we can't talk to you publically, other people can't see you."

"That doesn't stop about 10 other kids we passed talking to thin air," said Grimm, "Seriously, is this place a mental institute or an orphanage?"

"Sometimes, I ask myself that exact same question…" muttered Key dourly, "Everyday…"

"Enough about that~" said Isa, "Now that phase 1 of the plan has been completed, we can start with pha—"

Isa stopped mid-sentence as the corner of eye caught an unusual flicker on the TV screen, still tuned to the gossipy new channel, SakuraTV. Slowly they all turned to the TV as if entranced by the simple 4 letters that were now floating on a white-noise filled background. Key reached over silently as turned up the volume.

"We at SakuraTV were threatened to show this video to the world."

"It's happening again," said Key, his eyes wide, "Just like in the Kira file."

The letters KIRA written in calligraphic characters were floating on a mostly white background, as if they were taunting the people who were watching, glued to the screen.

"Hello World," said a computerized and distorted voice, not so different from L's own speaker voice, "I'm Kira. And I have returned to reign as God of the New World."

* * *

**DUN DUN DUNNNNNNNN**

**I feel like my new goal every chapter is to be able to write a totally random, but vaguely meaningful flashback at the beginning and "DUN DUN DUUUUUNNNNN" at the end…**

**All the Wammy's House peeps are getting crazier by the moment. But hey, as Obha says, progression of character is awesome~ Introduce them normally then slowly filter in the cray cray….**

**Also Grimm is feeling abandoned by me…(I'm sorry I actually did forget about him for the first half of this but then had no way to insert him into the rest of it….)**

**AND YES J IS THE LOVE CHILD OF HALLE LIDNER AND MELLO OK? COME ON WAS I THE ONLY ONE THINKING THAT THEY WERE TOTALLY GETTING IT ON IN THAR IN DAT SHOWER? Oh wait. Right. Death Note fandom here. Het is Ew. Unless its with a Mary Sue self-insert OC….jkjk love you peeps (I was guilty of the Sueishness once too) :3**

**Some people are saying my fic summery is kinda boring? Misleading? Not very interesting? Man I suck at summaries….HEY~ Wanna come up with some cool ones in the reviews as readers? Pretty please? *****sparkle sparkle***

**Read and Review moar~**

**Xoxo**

**Sushifan123**


	11. Manifesto

**Manifesto**

* * *

June 23rd, 2025

Winchester, England

Key slammed back onto the wall behind him, hard. He winced, trying to get up, rubbing his eye. It felt bruised, he was sure he would get a black eye tomorrow. Looking up as his attacker, he saw they're real names and lifespans right in his face as a larger hand reached out to grab his shirtfront and drag him up.

"Well, Last-Place?" said the bully, grinning arrogantly into his face, "Not accepting my challenge yet? A stupid, weakling like you doesn't deserve your letter. Tell me, what strings did your _Mommy_ pull to get you that?"

Key tried his best to hold his expression blank, remaining silent. Talking would simply provoke them more. He knew that he didn't deserve his Letter, but he would die before he let go of his Letter or his secret.

"What? The mommy's boy thinks he's too good for us orphans?" the bully spat in his face, "Not everyone can get everything from birth."

Key winced, his vision was going blurry from the pain. He understood why he was always being bullied. Not only did many target him for his seemingly undeserved Letter and his apparent closeness to L, but they also took out their frustration of being an abandoned orphan on the only boy in the House that actually had a loving family to go back to.

_But then again, it's not as if I can just go back either._ Key thought bitterly.

"Hey! Don't pass out on me!" said the bully, shaking Key, getting more and more annoyed, "You don't even belong here at Wammy's. You don't deserve to stand by L!"

"And you do?" asked a cold voice from behind the bully.

Both boys started and looked over to where the sound came from. Gill was standing next to the bottom of the staircase, poking a wooden knob carved into the side rail as decoration. 25 times, like she does every day when she passes the steps.

"Butt out, Gill!" said the bully, peeved that he was discovered by a more competent Letter, "This is between me and Last-Place."

"That's all well and good," said Gill, indifferently, "But you're in the way of my daily routine. Your collar is crooked and your shirt is un-tucked. I can tell from your left sleeve that you've been smoking again, please hide your cigarettes better, and try to take it outside, it's bad for my thinking when I smell the stuff. Did your love letter to Isa succeed? Judging by your collar, I think not. Didn't turn you down very nicely I suppose. But you're not really taking it too hard, are you? Oh wait, yeah. Confessing to Isa publically is about the only way you can think of to cover up the fact that you like guys. Namely, that boy you always hang around…what's his name?"

"H-How did you?" the bully was in shock, blushing bright red from embarrassment.

"It's all in the details," said Gill emotionlessly, finished with the knob on the stairs.

"I-I'll get you for this!" the bully was retreating, pointing at Key before he left, "You and me are not done, Last-Place! I'll get you and your Letter next time!"

Key waited until the bully rounded the corner before he let out a big sigh and sagged against the wall in pain, holding his injured eye. He looked up admiringly at Gill. Her ability to pick up insane detail allowed her to pull of Sherlock Holms-like scans on people, deducing impossible amounts of personal detail from her observations of people's attire and posture combined with her vast knowledge of forensic science. Key had always been a bit afraid and on edge around Gill, fearing that she could somehow pick up on the detail behind his eyes. Her obsessive compulsions also did not help as she lived a horribly regulated life that revolved around symmetry, routine and order, letting no one but Isa in. But maybe she was nice under that cold exterior. She did save Key from the bullies after all.

"U-Um," said Key, weakly, standing up as Gill walked in his direction, "Th-thank you for saving me…"

"Don't thank me," Gill stopped, facing Key, seeming to examine his face, "I just don't like people like that asymmetrical loser in my routines."

Her eyes focused on Key's own, searching for something, her eyebrows furrowed. Key flinched back a bit. Did she know about his eyes?

"I-is there something on my face?" asked Key nervously.

Gill tilted her head to the side and her chin tipped up a bit, as if she was considering something. Her furrowed eyebrows deepened as she frowned slightly.

"R-really," said Key, starting to get a bit edgy, "What is i—?"

BAM

A fist came out of nowhere and smacked Key full force in his uninjured eye, cutting him off and blinding him temporarily. Key fell back down, his eyes watering in pain as he held his face.

"Wh-what?" said Key, dumbstruck.

"There. That's better," Gill said calmly,

"You hit me!" said Key, still surprised that Gill had punched him in the face without reason or warning.

"You were going to get a black eye," explained Gill patiently, as if she was talking to a simpleton. "I don't think I can stand the sight of you with one swollen eye and one normal. We see each other too much because of our letters and it'll just give me headaches. So I fixed it for you. Now you have two black eyes. It's more symmetrical. I don't like people messing up my routines."

And with that, Gill turned her heel and walked away from Key's shocked form, still collapsed on the ground. Key stared after her with a mixture of disbelieve, shock and hurt.

_I take it all back._ He thought to himself, _Everyone in this place is insane._

* * *

September 1st, 2029

Winchester, England

"Hello World. I'm Kira. And I have returned to reign as God of the New World."

Key and Isa stared at the TV in disbelief. This was not how they had planned it.

"Well," said Grimm, "I guess you guys will have to move up the schedule."

"Isa," said Key, looking at the screen, "I think we should just continue with the plan. Bring up the feeds."

Isa grinned at Key, placing Pocky in her mouth and manipulating a hover screen until it showed the camera feed from all of the other Letters. Key turned to stare intently at the 4 different video streams as Isa focused all of her attention to the TV.

"If there is any doubt that I am Kira," the voice continued, "This video began at precisely 7:00 pm Greenwich Mean Time. In 20 seconds, the host of the Anti-Kira talk show called Kira Time will die."

Barely looking away from the camera feeds, Key pulls up the show on a different screen and pushes it over to Isa. Sure enough, after 20 seconds the show host begins to convulse and die of a heart attack.

"This is just the beginning of my return to this world," continued the voice, after it was confirmed the host had died, "The useless law enforcement that have tried to stop me before were only a mere setback on our collective path to a peaceful New World."

"Do you see anything?" asked Isa, still focused on the speech with a notebook open, recording it in shorthand.

"No," replied Key, "I think we were too late, this Kira must have planned all this out _weeks_ or even months in advance."

"It is clear that this rotten world cannot do without me as their God, their guide," continued the distorted voice, "In my absence the amount of crime and wars in this rotten world have reached a new peak. The gutters run thick with the scum of the Earth. Did you sinners truly believe that you could escape the justice of Kira for very long? I have returned world, to drag you back to the correct path of Justice and light. I will be the God of Death that cleans away the scum that rot the earth."

"God of Death, huh?" said Grimm, chuckling, his eyes remaining strangely cold, "This guy is really into the melodrama, isn't he?"

"Yes," said Isa, "Although then again, anyone who declares themselves a 'God of the New World' and acts judge, jury and executioner to the world must have a melodramatic personality to begin with."

"To my supporters, I will not fail you," the voice was saying, "Your faith will go rewarded. Join me against the rot that clings to this earth. But remember, shall you ever stray from the path, I will be there to judge all evil, be it in my name or not."

"Ah, nice to know," said Isa, grinning and chewing on her Pocky sticks, "So Kira does like his supporters, but commiting crimes is out of the question, even if under Kira's request. How convenient."

"Smart too," commented Key, still calculating, "He's stirring up chaos by publicly supporting his most zealous factions. The world will be in chaos soon enough, especially with world leaders being split into Kira vs. Anti-Kira."

"To those who would stand in my way, know this," both Key and Isa looked up in unison. This was directed to them, "To go against me is to go against Justice. Even after my many years of Justice, in my absence, the crime has returned. Is this because human nature is purely rotten at the core? Or is it because the useless and corrupt lawmakers, politicians and police have done nothing to curb the rot in the world. They are the ones who cause the suffering of the world. They are the ones who have turned a blind eye to the cries of a billion victims."

"Geez," complained Isa, "He makes us sound like horrible people~!"

"He does make a good point, however," Key said quietly, "Crime rates have been soaring unchecked for years. Somehow, no one besides L seems to want to change the current system. Some of them are waiting for Kira to do it, some of them think the current way works and some of them depend on L for the rest. But in the end, without Kira and L, the rest of the world haven't actually tried to fix what's so clearly wrong."

"That's why we're here," replied Isa, looking over and smiling, "The world needs us and L. We're changing the world for the better and saving everyone, the sinners and the victims alike. Kira wants to do the same, but he is the other side of the same coin, he kills the sinners to save the victims. Who knows who's really right in the end?"

"Finally, to my greatest rival, L," the voice said, causing everyone to jerk back to the screen at the name, "I know who you are. I know where to find you. You are only living because I allow it. I have not forgotten our last stand on that day. Now you will know, I was not bluffing, I was not lying. I have returned for your head."

"What is he talking about?" wondered Isa, "I suppose it's a personal message to L, but that must mean…"

"He knew L from before," said Key darkly, "He may even have some direct connection to the original Kira."

"But that's impossible!" said Isa, "Kira died, quietly and out of the public view almost 20 years ago! Anyone at Wammy's would have been too young to be involved."

"Know that you will never truly measure up to whom you wished to be," the voice was taunting, "Your temporary victory was simply that, temporary. You yourself know of the sins that stain your hands. Therefore, continue living, continue wallowing in your despair, you who knows so much and yet so little. You know of my power, and you are the one who facilitated my return. You who hide behind the mask of someone much greater than you can never win because I know who you are. God has given you a long drink from the river of life, but that ends soon."

Key jumped up, sending the hover screen bouncing away from him, the paper and pencils in his lap clattering to the floor.

"No." said Key, his eyes wide, "It can't be."

"Key?" asked Isa, worried, "What's wrong?"

Key was beyond hearing, his mind swam with shock and fear. _Kira knows L's real name,_ he thought to himself in horror, _The name 'Nate' meaning given by God. Last name River. 'God has given you a long drink from the river of life' it sounds like an unusual metaphor to anyone else, but to L he's saying that he knows his name._ Key sank to his knees in despair; suddenly he didn't know what to do.

_Everything. Everything is over…_

"I'm coming for you, L," the voice was wrapping up his speech, "And the rest of the sinners that rot this world."

"We can't win," said Key his entire frame shaking, his face pale and sweaty, "Kira already won, we can't win.

"For I am Justice!"

Key collapsed in a faint as soon as the video cut off, cutting back to the shocked expressions of the hosts at SakuraTV. Isa stood for a moment, staring surprised at Key's collapsed form. Then, part coaxing and part carrying, she moved him from the floor to the bed, tucking him gently.

"Today's been a long day, Key," she said gently, "Rest and we'll talk about it tomorrow."

Key nodded vaguely, he felt like he was falling down a long dark tunnel with no end. His eyes hurt from the constant strain of using them today. His head ached with the horrible revelation of an all-powerful enemy who already held all the aces. His half lidded eyes fluttered closed as he sighed, falling into a deep, dreamless sleep of utter exhaustion.

* * *

September 2nd, 2029

Winchester, England

The moon filtered through the slightly open drapes in Key's room, illuminating Key's face, finally calm in sleep. A figure stood by the window, face hidden by shadows, hand on the pane, looking out.

"Was this what it was like for you?" the figure asked the moon, "When it all started?"

The hand dropped, as the figure walked over to sit gently by the bed where Key was sleeping. Staring at the sleeping face of the young boy, a pale hand reached out and brushed back a bit of hair on his forehead.

"I know you don't deserve any of this," said the figure, a bit sad, "I've tried to prevent this, but I guess I never could best any of them."

A white gleam caught the figure's eye, reaching gently, the figure gently extracted the Death Note from beneath the sleeping Key's pillow where he kept it. Holding it delicately as if it could explode, the figure's pale hand skimmed over the calligraphic letter K on the cover. Grimm slowly materialized behind the mysterious person, his face unreadable. The figure doesn't react by only continues to stare at the note.

"So it begins again."

* * *

Elsewhere in Wammy's a person was hunched over a desk, eyes wide as a hand flew across the page of a Death Note, writing down names at incredible speed. Every so often, the person would glance up and the glowing screen of a laptop in front of him, displaying lists and lists of murders from the classified police reports given to Wammy's.

"I don't understand," said the person, the pen not even pausing for a moment, "If you know L and hate him, why not just kill him straight off? It'll make both of out lives easier."

_Crunch_. An apple broke in half, scattering juice everywhere in the moonlight, devoured by huge sharp teeth. A massive, dark figure with two glowing points as eyes sat, casually leaning on the windowsill, blocking out the moonlight.

"Because it's _fun_" said the figure, staring up at the moon, "Besides, I know who the enemy is. Better keep the ones we know in power and use them than kill them off immediately and let the replace them with new people."

"I get it," said the writing person, "But I still think it'll be safer if we didn't have L breathing down our neck."

"This L doesn't _deserve_ to be called L," said the figure, irritated, "We'll let him stew for now, with the knowledge that we're coming for him. He can't find us if we're careful anyways."

"A couple of other Letters came snooping around, yesterday," said the writer, "What about them?"

"What _about _them?" said the figure, eating the last of the apple, "Don't concern yourself with small fry, you're going to be a _GOD_ if all goes to plan."

"Yes," said the writer, increasing the writing speed, putting down names at a fast pace, "Yes, I will."

The figure grinned and stared up at the moon, picking up a new apple and swallowing it whole.

"Humans are interesting."

* * *

**DUN DUN DUUUUNNN**

**Sorry I didn't update on time yesterday. My summer job is sucking the life from me.**

**Ah Gill, can always count on you for my Sherlock Scans and Insane Troll Logic: Black eye=unbalanced=headache. Solution? GIVE HIM ANOTHER ONE TO MATCH~ :D**

**I must say, writing the Kira speech/manifesto was awesome~ I love it when I can go all out on the Large Ham stuff. This must be how Light and Lelouch feel all the time. Although, I feel like this new Kira is leaning more towards Lelouch than Light, being all flashy on TV and stuff. Even comes with a snarky CC-like Shinigami.**

**Also, why are all the characters such creepers, sneaking into rooms when people are sleeping and writing stuff down in the middle of the night and such…ah well…Wammy's House…**

**Read and Review MOARRR I also haven't heard back on the summary stuff :P (jk I'm just too lazy to think of a new one…)**

**Xoxo**

**Sushifan123**


	12. Name

**Name**

* * *

February 5th, 2023

Location Unknown

Key sat in his usual seat, writing names next to pictures, identifying John and Jane Doe corpses to return to their families. Writing a girl's name next to a pale face, Key glanced up at Near, sitting on the floor a few feet away, worried.

"Is there a problem?" asked Near, pressing a piece of white puzzle into place.

"N-no, L," said Key, looking hurriedly back at his papers, "I believe I found the missing McCallen girl from the kidnapping case a couple months back."

"I see," said Near, expressionless, fiddling with a puzzle piece, "You're working later than usual."

"Y-yes, I suppose I am," Key said nervously, adjusting his glasses and flipping to a new page of pictures, not before sneaking a peak at Near again.

The room fell into awkward silence again. Key coughed and shuffled his papers again, glancing worriedly at Near's face again.

"Is it something on my face?" asked Near placidly, placing his pieces individually in a checkerboard pattern.

"N-no," said Key awkwardly again, "I-it's just…."

"Well clearly it's something," said Near, pressing a piece into place, "This is the tenth time you've checked my lifespan in the past 30 minutes."

"Wha—" Key jerked back in his chair, surprised, "H-How did you know?"

"You glance at my face and your pupils contract ever so slightly and shiver," said Near, twirling a puzzle piece and glancing at Key, "You do that every time you calculate a lifespan because you're looking quickly through the numbers over my head. Last time you checked, I had two weeks left. That was two weeks ago, it's not a hard leap."

"But L!" Key protested, "How can you be so calm? You're about to die in less than 5 minutes! Plus, you're just doing a puzzle, not even taking any precautions…"

"I see no point," Near replied calmly, holding up a piece to the light and squinting at it, "From my experience with the lifespans seen with those eyes, there's no avoiding the set time. If I make preparations to avoid this death, I will die from something else at the prescribed time. The only thing that can avert it is a Death Note and they do not exist in this world anymore."

"That's why I'm staying here," Key said stubbornly, "It's been proven last year with the bombing that _I_ can avert the set time. I'll stop it if you won't."

"Suit yourself," said Near, pressing a piece with a single outstretched finger.

The room fell silent again. Key dropped all pretence of working and simply stared at Near with crossed arms and a stubborn look on his face.

"Why are you bothering to do this?" Near asked suddenly, "It'll only benefit you if I die. I've been at best apathetic and at worse bad to you. If I die you can return to your mother and a normal life."

"I—" Key stopped, thinking, "That's wrong."

"How so?" said Near, "Matsuda seems very vocal of my bad treatment of you."

"I don't think you've been bad," said Key firmly, "I don't think you're a bad person."

"Oh, but I've definitely been bad," said Near calmly, spreading out the remaining pieces in a fan, "I was called a 'cheater' all my life. I use people, especially people like you. Don't you want rid of me so you can be a normal boy?"

"Normal?" the young boy scoffed arrogantly, "I've _never_ been normal. If you hadn't ripped me out of my family, how long do you think I would have lasted before I went insane? If you hadn't trained me on how to control and use my eyes, how long before I revealed it to someone else and get turned into a lab rat? At least when you use me, I help people. I _save lives_. At least I know why I was born with these stupid eyes anyways! At least I can do more than that Kira and his eyes, killing people just because they went against his justice!"

Key grabbed the stack of files and threw then at Near, scattering the pictures of hundreds of missing people and unknown bodies over the floor.

"Look!" he said, his eyes welling up with tears "Look at all the people I can save! The people I help! Without this I would have gone insane years ago! And you save many times this amount of people. So never say that your death is inevitable, because if you die, the thousands of people you could have saved in the future die with you."

Near stared at Key for a beat, his eyes black and unreadable. Ducking his head, he pressed another piece into place with a finger.

"You know nothing about me," he said coldly, "You don't know the people I've hurt on my path, the bodies that pile under my feet. Perhaps my death is atonement for those who have died so that I could be here."

"I may not know anything," said Key firmly, "But I know you are not a bad person. So I will prevent fate from ending your life. I'll do anything."

Near fell silent, scooping up the last of his puzzle and pressing them in place, his face hidden.

"How long?" he asked suddenly, his voice quiet whisper echoing in the cold room.

"About a minute left," replied Key, looking between the door and window with a new intensity.

Near simply continued to press the white pieces into place, waiting. Key watched as the seconds slipped by, the clock over Near's head slipping to the end.

Suddenly a glint from the darkened window caught Key's eye. His eyes seemed to flash red in the light as he ripped off his glasses and stared out the window, his heightened vision picking out a dark form crouched on a rooftop across the street.

"It's a sniper!" Key yelled, as he dove without thinking in front of Near, blocking Near's crouching form with his own small frame.

Near's eyes widened slightly in genuine shock as the last of the numbers over his head slipped to zero. A moment of total silence enveloped the room. Then in a burst of sound, the glass in the supposedly bulletproof windows shattered all at once, scattering glass across the floor.

Key cried out as the bullet ripped through him, his vision filled with red, then fading slowly to black.

Near caught him as he fell, stumbling back to his knees under the weight, sending the last white puzzle piece flying in the air. Blood splashed across the unfinished puzzle, staining it's perfect white with a vivid red.

And then silence.

* * *

September 2nd, 2029

Winchester, England

Key flinched as the first rays of sunlight hit his eyes through the gap in the drapes. Rubbing his eyes blearily, he turned over groggily and straight into the stare of an unknown pair of eyes. Bolting up he gasped as he turned to look right into the face of L, staring at him, sitting on the floor with his chin leaning on the edge of the bed.

"What are you doing here?" Key hissed, "You-you-you can't _be_ here!"

"Why can't I be here?" asked L placidly, "I own the place."

"Because Kira is here!" Key practically yelled, covering his mouth in order to not wake the kids next-door, "You can't be seen! Kira knows who you are! He knows your name! You'll be in great danger if you stay here! Plus, you only have about 5 days left now!"

"Slow down," said L, looking around the room, his chin still rested on the bed, "First of all, if Kira is here and he knows my name, all the more reason for me to be here. It won't do me any good, being holed up in the office. Kira proved that he could kill me whenever he wanted. Better be here when I can get to him, than sitting in my office waiting for death. I'm living on borrowed time anyways."

"But how are you going to explain your presence to the rest of Wammy's?" asked Key, suddenly tired, "Everyone knows everyone here personally, what if someone recognizes you?"

"I'm a new student here." Near said, smiling childishly and resting his hands under his chin, "Rester is introducing me this afternoon."

"But—!" Key protested, still in shock that L was sitting in his room nonchalantly.

"No one will recognize me," said L calmly, "There are at most three people here who knows who I really am, You, Rester and Kira. I'll be fine."

"That's not—!" Key stopped himself, holding his head in his hands. There was no arguing with L when he looked like that, "I thought you said you have just about the lowest initiative. What brings you all the way to Wammy's as an undercover student? Isn't it more your style to send someone to do that for you? Like Gevanni?"

"I'm the only one who can pass as a student," said Near matter-of-factly, "Plus. I can trust no one when it is Kira. Which brings me to this."

Reaching into his shirtfront he drew out the white Death Note Grimm had given Key just yesterday. The black K on the cover seemed to shine mockingly in Key's eyes.

"L, I can explain." Key said quietly, "I promise, I am not and will never be Kira."

"No need," said L calmly, "Mr. Shinigami here already explained everything, right Grimm?"

"Yep," said Grimm, perched on the dresser, grinning, " Sorry, Key. He insisted. Plus, now that we have the Great L on our side, this'll go a ton faster. I've hear a lot about you in my world, you know?"

"I'm honoured," said L, sliding the Death Note across the bed, over to Key, "Although I'm afraid most of the credit must go to my predecessors and my late colleagues."

"S-so you're, okay with this too?" asked Key incredulously, taking the Death Note and flopping back down on his chair, "Geez, why does everyone believe that I'm not Kira so quickly? If I'd known that earlier I may have actually considered becoming Kira for a bit."

"It's because if you wanted me dead, you wouldn't have save my life so many times," said L, seriously, "I do not underestimate the corrupting power of the Death Note, but taking into account your personality and your gift, If you were really Kira, I would have died as soon as you laid hands on the Note. Plus, I flipped through all the pages, spotless, you didn't even open it up all the way, I'm disappointed."

"I could have torn out the written pages," Key shot back, his face dark, "I could be biding my time to kill you, if you die, suspicion falls to me because I know your real name."

"True," agreed L, "But if you were Kira, you wouldn't hide your Death Note under your pillow in a room full of cameras. Hato did say that Aberthol's murder was not caught on any cameras."

"Cameras?" asked Key, his eyes widening in shock, "You mean?"

"Yes," said L, "No doubt Hato knows already. But since he hasn't done anything, I don't think he'll act just yet."

"Great," Key muttered darkly to himself, "This is just too great."

"Not that you're completely in the white yet," said L, standing up, "I trust no one. I'm going to keep you close because I need your eyes to look for Kira and because you know my real name, two birds in one stone. By the way, if you kill me, Gevanni has orders to arrest you. And the rest of the Letters for good measure."

Key winced. Sometimes L was just a little bit too blunt.

L was now standing with a slight hunch and running his fingers along every piece of furniture in the room. Key stood and watched as L's fingers paused every couple of seconds, pinching out a new recording device and throwing it into a pile. At the end of the search the pile of microscopic cameras and mics had grown to a significant pile.

"That was in my room?" Key asked, his eyes wide as he ran his hands through the pile of sand like recording devices or all shapes, "This is beyond military grade."

"Yes, I believe they're Hato's own creation," said L, picking one up on his fingertips and examining it, "As he says, anyone who still believes in privacy is just being cute."

Key shivered a bit. All this was a bit too much to take.

"And this is everywhere at Wammy's?"

"Yes," L said, looking at a tiny camera with one eye, "Most of them were put in at my request, but I believe there are some of his own in here."

"You asked Hato to…?" asked Key, still stunned by the amount of surveillance equipment in his room. Perhaps Fred's paranoia was justified, on some level.

"Yes, well, one can never be too careful," said L, who was now dropping the priceless technology into a bottle of water, "But we're not going to need these. I'd prefer it if I remained mostly off recording devices."

* * *

L finished destroying the last of the cameras and microphones and stood up, dusting himself off.

"And now we must go," he said, heading for the door.

"Where?" asked Key, trailing after him, resigned, "It's 6 am."

"To look around," L replied vaguely, "I haven't been here in person for years."

He pulled open the door quietly, almost walking straight into a hulking, white skeletal figure.

"Near?" the figure said, incredulously.

Key gasped. L turned to look as Key quizzically,

"What is it?" he asked quietly.

"Y-You don't see it?" asked Key, almost paralyzed with terror, "It's right there."

"Ah," said Near expressionlessly, turning back to the doorway, "Then I assume that there's a giant Shinigami in front of me, correct?"

"Near!" the Shinigami said with a wide, twisted smile, "It's been years. Well when I say years…"

The Shinigami resembled a skeleton with a white, skull-like face. Goggles and a red headband decorated his forehead where light brown hair sprouted, standing straight up in spikes. A black jacket hung off his shoulders, strapped down by a giant bone hammer and a messenger bag. Two empty eye sockets stared at L with two glowing red dots for eyes.

"I suppose you can't see me. But I didn't expect to see you so soon." The Shinigami said with a grin, "This is going to be _great_."

Near didn't respond but stared thoughtfully at the empty air in front of him before sticking his hand straight out into where the Shinigami's torso was.

"Is this about where he is, Key?" asked Near.

"Y-yes," Key responded, "Spot on, as a matter of fact. Please put down your hand. It's going through his torso. Frankly it's a bit nauseating."

"But this kid can see me. Strange," the Shinigami said, lifting his eyes to Key who stood a little behind L and gasped in shock.

"You!" the Shinigami yelled at Key, who stumbled a step or two back, "Why do you look like…?"

The Shinigami reached out and grabbed Key, dragging him out to the hallway, pushing past L. Taking off Key's glasses, the Shinigami stared at Key's face.

"You look just like…but your hair!" the Shinigami muttered to himself, "It's the wrong color…"

Lifting his eyes from Key's terrified face, the Shinigami say Key's real name and flinched back, staring in shock.

"Why do you have that name?" the Shinigami asked the boy, shaking his limp body in his long fingers, "Who are you?"

Key could not comprehend what was happening to him. He felt weak and powerless in this strange being's hand.

_I'm going to die._ He thought to himself, letting his head fall limp as he gave up his struggle against this mysterious Shinigami. A corner of his eye caught his terrified reflection in the pane of the window, small, white and terrified.

"Why do you look like me?" the Shinigami yelled at the boy, shaking with more force, "Why do you have my name?"

Key's eyes caught his terrified refection's eyes and looked at his own name, reflected in red shining characters over his face. His vision blurred as the Shinigami continued to shake his limp form, his words fading into a tumbled blur and the rest of Key's view into a black fog. What remained were the three characters that floated above Key's reflection, shining through the dark, black fog.

"夜神月"

* * *

**DUN DUN DUUUUUUUNNNNN**

**For all you peeps who can't read Kanji...SUCKS FOR YOUUUUUU...It'll be explained next chapter...**

**HAD to use the Unnamed Shinigami...Although he's not connected to Relight...but he is in essentials the same character :D**

**But yes~ what a jam packed chapter~ I liked writing Near so much in the flashbacks, I just added him to the story...man now I have to write a character that I didn't create meaning that I can't write things that he wouldn't say or do...OTL haaaah maintaining good characters is hard...keeping with the established cannon is even harder...**

**READ AND REVIEW YOU HAVE TO THIS IS LIKE AN OMG HUGE REVEAL :S I WANT TO HEAR ANY AND ALL THEORIES~~**

**Xoxo**

**Sushifan123**


	13. Darkness

**Darkness**

* * *

May 4th, 2014

Tokyo, Japan

A woman sat shivering under a blanket in a police station, her eyes wide and blank with shock.

"Geez," whispered an officer, "What a slut."

"Don't be mean," another officer whispered back, "She's one of those mental girls, totally out of it the whole time."

"Doesn't mean she wasn't asking for it," the first officer said, "I mean, look at her, she's hot."

The woman didn't seem to react to the men's callous words, simply staring blankly into the air in front of her. A solitary tear ran down her cheek.

"Huh," said the officer, shuffling through her paperwork, "Look at her name. She's _that guy's_ kid."

"Makes sense," said the other officer, looking the woman up and down, "There's usually one rotten egg in a police family."

"Man, why do we always get these dead girls?" the guy said, waving to get her attention, but receiving no response, "I get it. Her family died in the line, big deal. No need to turn into a doll for those creeps out there. Saves us some time."

"Sayu-chan! Are you okay?" Matsuda yelled as he burst into the police station, running to kneel by the frozen woman, "What did they do to you! I'm going to kill them all!"

Sayu Yagami moved for the first time, turning to look into the kind and worried face of Matsuda, a man she once loved. Something inside her seemed to break as she collapsed into his arms, tears streaming down her face as her legs gave under her.

"There she goes again, throwing herself at men," the officer said nastily, "No wonder she go rap—"

Before he could utter the disgusting word, he found himself pinned to the wall with a standard-issue gun pressed to his nose.

"Finish what you were going to say, I dare you!" Matsuda yelled into the officer's face, furious, "Finish what you were going to say, and I swear I will blow your face off! You have no idea what this poor girl went through in the past several years! I'd be surprised if most people don't get through that more broken than she is!"

"Matsuda-senpai" said a young man, walking through the doors of the police station, "I understand, these local police are scum. Don't bother with them."

Yamamoto walked to Sayu who was still sitting on the floor sobbing and patted her on the head, slowly helping her up.

"Sayu-chan?" he said gently to her, "Remember me? I used to go to school with your big brother, Light. Everything is going to be okay. You're safe with us."

Sayu reacted at the mention of her brother; looking up a Yamamoto with big, tear filled eyes. She registered Yamamoto's hands around her and flinched away, tripping and crashing against the opposite wall.

"Matsuda-senpai," Yamamoto said calmly, looking over at Matsuda, who still had the officer pinned to the wall, "Let me deal with these guys, I think you're the only male Sayu's going to trust for a while."

Matsuda looked over to Yamamoto with rage still in his eyes. Seeing the collapsed and shivering form of Sayu, he nodded, letting go of the officer who slid to the floor in fear. Walking over to Sayu, he gently helped her up again and looked into the beautiful face of the daughter of his most respected mentor and the sister of his greatest role model and enemy.

_I can't even imagine what she must have gone through. Not knowing anything…_Matsuda thought to himself, _It's my fault it all ended like this. It's my fault that her father and brother are dead and her mother too, a year later from grief._

Sayu looked at the trusted face of her good friend and smiled a little. She felt safe with Matsuda by her. He had gotten so much more reliable after the Kira case, so much more like her brother. Still unable to voice her thoughts, regressed as she was into her PTSD-state, she place a hand on Matsuda's troubled face and smiled a little bit, reassuringly, through her tears.

"Sayu," Matsuda said to her, smiling back warmly, "You are a Yagami, therefore, you are strong. You can get through this, I promise. I'll ask L to take you into the police's protection program. I can't believe we didn't do this earlier, when your mother passed away. I'll protect you. I promise."

Sayu, still not entirely present, only registered the warm, firm tone of Matsuda and nodded dumbly, smiling a bit more.

_Not good,_ Matsuda thought to himself, _She's withdrawing again._

"I'll protect you," he told her again, "I promise, Sayu Yagami."

* * *

September 2nd, 2029

Winchester, England

"Why do you look like me?" the Shinigami yelled at the boy, shaking with more force, "Why do you have my name?"

Key's eyes caught his terrified refection's eyes and looked at his own name, reflected in red shining characters over his face. His vision blurred as the Shinigami continued to shake his limp form, his words fading into a tumbled blur and the rest of Key's view into a black fog. What remained were the three characters that floated above Key's reflection, shining through the dark, black fog.

"夜神月"

The Shinigami shook him harder. Just as Key felt his consciousness slip away, it stopped.

"Yagami Light," Grimm said, moving through the wall, and staring down the Shinigami, "Stop."

"W-what?" Key choked out, recognizing the name, "Uncle Light? Why are you—"

"Ah, so you are the old man I've heard so much about," the Shinigami dropped Key, who passed out on impact, "What are you doing here? I thought you never descended from your throne."

"Things change when someone is messing around with my programming," Grimm said, unusually serious, "Speaking of rules, if you kill that boy without a Death Note warrants an Extreme Level punishment. Such a shame, a new Shinigami dying so quickly."

"Very true," replied the Shinigami, "I suppose I'll retreat for now. I do have the upper hand, after all."

"Indeed, you do have the upper hand" said Near, staring a little bit off where the Shinigami stood.

"Wait," Grimm said, confused, "How did you…?"

"You called the other Shinigami, Yagami Light," Near replied calmly, turning Key over gently, "Therefore I can only assume that Light-kun turned into a Shinigami somehow and is standing here. Taking into account his personality, I can pretty much guess what you two are talking about based on what I see and hear of Grimm and Key."

"Near, You haven't changed," said Light, grinning even wider, "Well, I supposed you've gotten older, still trying to look like L, I see?"

"Hmm, yes, well I think you should have changed a lot," Near replied, "Most Shinigami are not as attractive as Grimm here, so I believe you look just as strange. Does the narcissist in you feel bad that you no longer look like a human?"

"I may not be human," Light shot back, "But I am a GOD. I have returned to reign over as the God of the New World. Even death could not stop me! And you, Near, are now just a puny human dancing on the palm of my hand. I could kill you any time I want."

"Yagami Light," Grimm said seriously, the air becoming imperceptibly thick around him, "Retreat for now. You are a Shinigami now. You cannot hurt humans directly or with a motive. You must act through a pawn to achieve anything. Leave now and I'll pretend that your transgression with my owner didn't happen."

"Owner?" Light scoffed, "How ironic that even the God of Gods must be _owned_ to exist on this plane. Yes, I will leave for now, but remember, I'm still here. And I will kill each and every one of you and your pawns to fulfill my goal. Even you, _Shinigami King_. I will tear you from your throne and take your place. Then, I will truly rule over the earth. While you and your Shinigami have been sitting in your dimension rotting, I will take over everything that is rightly mine. I was _chosen_ to do this. ONLY I can do this. And now, no one can stop me."

Grimm had advanced till he was mere inches away from the big Shinigami. His tall, human looking frame seemed dwarfed in comparison to Light's skeletal own. Grimm's eyes seemed to flash red as his face curled into an unnatural smile.

"Try if you can, _Shinigami_" he mocked, making even Light flinch back a bit, "You may think that you're God-material now that you've bent a few of my rules, but remember this, Yagami Light. I am the Shinigami _King_. I am beyond even Death itself. My true form is incomprehensible because _it doesn't exist on any plane_. You may claim to be able to dethrone me, but no one has ever been able to even find me. I will never be defeated because my form cannot die. I exist, eternally and ethereally in a place that no monster can reach. The only ones who are permitted to challenge me are humans, and you are no longer one of them. So, retreat, Yagami Light, for although you have escaped death, you have put me forever out of your reach."

"I am no longer Yagami Light, old man," the Shinigami growled at Grimm, "I am Yami now."

Turning on his heel, the Shinigami called Yami stalked away and faded through the wall at the end of the hallway.

"So," said Near, seemingly unaffected, "We have a lot to talk about."

* * *

Key felt his head pounding as his eyes opened and his blurry vision came into focus. For the second time in the same day, Key woke to see a pair of large dark eyes hovering a few centimeters from his own.

"Awake?" Near said placidly, "I assume you were awake during part of the conversation between Grimm and Yami?"

"Wha- who?" Key asked, confused, "Why did Grimm call the Shinigami Uncle Light?"

"Yami," Near said firmly, "The Shinigami is called Yami."

"Um…ok," said Key, " I was sure I heard…"

"More importantly," Near cut through Key's thoughts, "Grimm, can you please explain something to us? What is the Shinigami King doing here on Earth, fighting with other Shinigami?"

"What? Grimm?" asked Key, bolting up from his bed and nearly whacking Near in the face, "_You're_ the Shinigami King?"

"One aspect, I suppose," Grimm admitted sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head, "I'm just a projection of the main body, like a server, I guess."

"You mentioned computer language before," said Near suddenly, staring at Grimm, "You called the Death Note rules your programming. Is the Shinigami King some sort of computer?"

"You are good," Grimm said incredulously to Near, "Yes, in a matter of speaking, I am a computer?"

"What?" Key asked, still feeling a bit hazy, "What computer? What exactly are Shinigami anyways?"

"Let's see, how do I explain this?" Grimm hopped off his seat on Key's dresser and floated closer to Key until they were face to face, "What do you see when you look at a Shinigami with your eyes."

"Umm…" Key said, sitting up straighter, "Nothing, I don't see anything, no names or lifespans."

"Now, next question," Grimm continued, "Who else doesn't have a name or lifespan when you look at them?"

"Lets see." Key focused, "Dead people, first of all, umm, infants, anyone younger than 780 days old. Oh, and people older than 124 years of age."

"Now," Grimm grinned and sat back, "You've just listed all the people who cannot be affected by any Death Notes. I believe your friend here has the last question."

Both Key and Grimm looked over at Near who was stacking stationary supplies on Key's desk. Looking up at the both of them with dark eyes, Near squished a eraser between his fingers.

"The question is," Near replied darkly, "Why are almost all the rules of the Death Note regarding human possession and use of the Death Note?"

* * *

**DUN DUN DUUUUUUUUUNN**

**Haaaaaah I was too tired to write a long chapter today…My job is killing meeee…but I'm also bored…so here's the new chapter~~**

**Sadly yes, Sayu was raped and had Key. In a lot of countries, rape is not really investigated because the general view is that the victim was inviting it somehow by not fighting back enough to prevent it. This results in the victim being not only the victim of a horrible crime but also the victim of some terrible psychological trauma from society's judgment. Lots of rape victims in Asia commit suicide afterwards and the perpetrator rarely gets prosecuted, especially if the victim knew him/her. Tis a sad world people, don't make light of rape.**

**But on a lighter note WHOOO YAGAMI LIGHT IS BACK IN THE GAMEEEE YEEESSSSS. Had to write him in somehow, however I promise, I thought of a way to write him back that follows the rules laid out by the original manga exactly~ took me hours of flipping through the exact wording of the rules…BUT I GOT IT :D :D :D**

**Also WE FINALLY FIND OUT WHAT SHINIGAMIS ARE ALL ABOUT! Took me a while of searching on some WMG and Headscratchers TvTropes pages but I've finally came up with a believable back-story and stuff for Shinigamis, look forward to it~**

**Read and Review else I lose hope and stop writing (lol jk I'll still post mostly daily…)**

**Xoxo**

**Sushifan123**


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